By Tom Schardin, Staff Writer

The Prior Lake boys and girls lacrosse teams are heading in the Section 3 tournament on different paths.

The boys team has won three of its last five games to earn the No. 5 seed in the tournament. The Lakers (7-4) will open up quarterfinal play on Tuesday, May 13 at fourth-seeded Lakeville. Eastview earned the No. 1 seed in the section, while Eagan was No. 2 and Apple Valley was No. 3. Rosemount is seeded sixth, Burnsville is seventh, Owatonna is eighth and Simley is ninth.

The semifinals are set for Wednesday, May 14, while the finals are May 16. The higher seed plays at home. Brackets can be found at www.mshsl.org.

“This has been a great group of guys,” said Prior Lake boys coach Gabe Van Pelt. “The entire team really came together and bonded as a group.  We’re going take each game one at a time in sections, but I'm pleased with how we finished off the regular season.”

Meanwhile, the Prior Lake girls team struggled to close out the regular season, losing its final four games to finish the season with a 1-10 mark.

The Lakers earned the No. 7 seed in the section and will face 10th-seeded Visitation in a play-in game at home on Friday, May 9. Eighth-seeded Owatonna will face ninth-seeded Eagan/Rosemount in the other play-in game.

The Lakers will face second-seeded Shattuck-St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals with a win over Owatonna.

Bloomington Kennedy earned the No. 1 seed in the section, while Lakeville was the third seed, Apple Valley/Eastview was fourth, Bloomington Jefferson was fifth and Burnsville was sixth.

The Laker girls’ last four defeats were 13-5 to Breck on May 7, 10-3 to Kennedy a day earlier, 9-3 to Holy Angels on May 5 and 8-2 to Chaska on May 1.

Sophomore Alexa Tovsen and juniors Sam Opalinski and Jenna Nelson each had two goals in the past four games for the Lakers, while juniors Sarah Heuer and Corrine Lund, sophomores Jessi Barton and Mai Thao and seniors Justine Sharkey and Lindsey Remick each had one goal.

Junior Brianna Schultz started three games in goal for the Lakers, including making 29 saves in the loss to Breck. Ninth-grader Mallory Joachim started in the loss to Kennedy and had 18 saves.

Meanwhile, the Laker boys earned a 4-3 win over Minneapolis Southwest on May 1, a 13-3 victory over Simley on May 5 and a 4-1 triumph over Armstrong on May 7. The two losses were 5-3 to Lakeville on May 3 and 12-2 to Minnetonka on May 6.

Luke Stockton has seven goals in the Lakers’ last five games, including three in the win over Minneapolis Southwest.

Matt Kleven had three goals in the win over Smiley. Michael Tosney and Sean Kopas each had three goals in the five-game span, while Colin Jorgenson had two and Kegan Scherping, Drew Anderson and Casey Donaldson each had one.

Darren Todtleben made all five starts in goal for the Lakers, including making 16 saves against both Minneapolis Southwest and Lakeville.

The girls’ state tournament is set for May 20-22 at Hopkins and Wayzata High Schools. The boys’ state meet is set for May 21-23 at the same venues.