Senior middie Blake Kleven and junior middie Justin Vossen each registered a co-team-high three points to lead Eastview to an 8-7 victory over Blake in a Minnesota State High School League semifinal Wednesday night at Hopkins High School.

Kleven scored two goals and dished an assist, and Vossen finished with a goal and two assists, as Eastview (13-4) beat defending state champion Blake by a one-goal margin for the second time this season.

With the victory, the Lightning advanced to the Minnesota state championship game for the first time in school history. Eastview will face No. 15 Minnetonka on Friday night at 8 p.m., CDT, at Mounds View High School to determine the new king of Minnesota lacrosse.

In the teams’ only regular-season meeting, Minnetonka beat Eastview, 11-8, on April 27.

“I think Minnetonka has a very high-powered offense,” Eastview head coach Tim Roche said. “We need to make sure we control their offense as much as we can. We know they’re going to score. We just need to make sure, in the end, we score one more than they do.”

On Wednesday, junior attackman Luke Wagner added a pair of goals, senior attackmen Andy Freeman and Matt Durand each had a goal and an assist, and senior middie Matt Mraz scored once for Eastview.

Defensively, junior goalie Ryan O’Shea saved 15 shots.

In defeat, sophomore attackman George Ordway registered a game-high five points on two goals and three assists, Willie Steenland had four points on three goals and one assist and Kolten Fischer and Dixon Pettengill each scored once for Blake (10-6). The Bears will close out their season with a game against Centennial to determine the state’s third-place team.

“I thought we made a couple mistakes in allowing them to get their transition going, and they’re very good in transition,” Blake head coach Rob Horn said. “Defensively, I thought we played well, but offensively, our shots just weren’t falling today.

“But I’m very proud of our team and the success that we’ve had this year.”

In the opening minute, it looked like Blake would send Eastview to its third consecutive state-semifinal defeat. Steenland scored 36 seconds into the game, and Ordway gave the Bears a 2-0 lead just eight seconds later.

However, Eastview recovered to take a 6-4 halftime lead, and the Lightning led by as many as three goals when Freeman scored 1:35 into the second half to make it 7-4.

Eastview led 7-6 at the end of the third quarter, and Mraz scored his only goal to give the Lightning a two-goal cushion with 9:53 remaining in regulation. Steenland finished a feed from Ordway with 5:24 to play to make it a one-goal game, but that was as close as Blake could get.

“We came out with good intensity, but Blake came out on fire,” Roche said. “I thought the guys showed great resolve. They came back right away, tied it up, took the lead and went from there.”