MINN GIRLS: MSHSL Semis: No. 21 Blake Tops Centennial, 15-6

Freshman middie Meghan Bauer registered a game-high six points on three goals and three assists to lead No. 21 Blake to a 15-6 victory over Centennial in a Minnesota State High School League semifinal Tuesday night at Hopkins High School.

Senior attack Michelle Tremblay added four goals to help the defending champion Bears (16-1) advance to the state-title game for the third straight season.

Blake will next face No. 6 Eden Prairie for the Minnesota state championship, which is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at 8 p.m., CDT, at Mounds View High School. This will be the fifth time in the last six seasons that Blake and Eden Prairie will meet in the state championship game. The Eagles have won three of the previous four title games against Blake.

In the teams’ only meeting this season, Eden Prairie rolled over Blake, 15-4.

"We're excited to have this opportunity again," Blake head coach Laura Mark said. "Eden Prairie's a fantastic team. We're going to have to work hard to slow them down. They have a lot of threats and a lot of speed on the field. We're going to have to establish our own pace of play in the opening few minutes if we want to hang with them."

On Tuesday, sophomore attack Hillary Crowe scored three goals, Margaret Chute added a pair and senior middie Hilary Hayssen finished with a goal and an assist for Blake. Abbie Lund and Lydia Sutton each had a goal to round out the scoring.

In defeat, senior middie Cassie Hoyez scored a team-high two goals, and junior middie Maddie Ulfig added a goal and an assist for Centennial (13-3), which will next face Woodbury/Park in the third-place game Thursday at 6 p.m., CDT, at Mounds View.

Blake outshot Centennial 32-16, had a 14-7 advantage in draw controls and scored on 6-of-11 free-position shots.

Centennial scored the game’s first goal when Eryn Nelson finished a feed from Ulfig just 22 seconds in. The Cougars maintained the lead for more than four minutes, but after Crowe fired home the equalizer the floodgates opened.

Blake scored eight straight goals, a run capped by Tremblay’s free-position shot, to take an 8-1 lead with 8:25 remaining in the first half.

Centennial came back to close within 8-4 by halftime, and it was a 9-5 game after the teams traded goals to start the second half. But Blake finished the game by scoring six of the final seven goals to pull away.

"Centennial came out strong and fast," Mark said. "They have some great midfielders that have the ability to score. We came out a little slow, and we can't afford to do that in the state championship game."