By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

Senior attackman Pete Carbonneau, senior attackman Sean Folley and senior middie Charles Earl Hanson all registered a co-team-high three points to lead No. 15 Minnetonka to a 12-10 victory over Eastview in the Minnesota State High School League championship game Friday night at Mounds View High School.

Carbonneau and Folley each scored three goals, and Hanson finished with two goals and an assist, as Minnetonka (18-0) closed out a perfect season by winning the state title for the first time in school history.

“It’s so exciting,” Minnetonka head coach Aaron Olivier said. “I’m so happy for these seniors. It’s been three long years in the making. They have given up weekends, spring break and their nights in order to achieve this dream.”

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The game was tied, 8-8, midway through the third quarter when the Skippers used a decisive four-goal run to take control. Four different players all scored unassisted during the eight-minute stretch that turned the game in Minnetonka’s favor.

“During that stretch, Carbonneau, Folley and our senior goalie, Alex Nikas, carried us to victory,” Olivier said. “Nikas stood on his head, and our goal scorers did their job.”

Eastview (13-5), which was playing in its first state championship game, pulled two goals back in the fourth quarter to make it close. But the Lightning could never trim the gap closer than two during the final 12 minutes.

“I’m happy for our program,” Eastview head coach Tim Roche said. “We took another step forward, but it’s a tough loss. We’re losing a great senior class, and it’s unfortunate we were unable to go out on top.”

For Minnetonka, senior attackman Matt Wyer, senior middie Jay Morgan, junior middie Ned Wolff and senior long-stick middie Patrick Korn all had a goal to round out the scoring.

Defensively, Nikas saved nine shots, and Korn held Johns Hopkins-bound junior middie Rex Sanders to just one assist.

In defeat, senior attackman Andy Freeman scored a game-high four goals, junior middie Blake Kleven added four points on three goals and one assist and senior attackman Matt Durand dished a pair of assists for Eastview.

Junior middie Justin Vossen, junior attackman Daniel Schliesman and junior middie Ben Bowar all scored once.

In the cage, junior goalie Ryan O’Shea saved eight shots.

Eastview held a 44-36 advantage in shots, but the Lightning weren’t quite as accurate. Minnetonka led 4-2 at the end of the first quarter, an advantage the Skippers extended to three goals when Hanson scored an unassisted goal with 6:37 remaining in the second quarter to make it 5-2.

The Lightning closed with 5-4 by halftime and tied it at 7-7 when Bowar scored his only goal with 7:45 to play in the third. The teams traded goals, making it 8-8, before Minnetonka went on its big run.

Carbonneau scored the go-ahead goal with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter to put the Skippers ahead 9-8, and Folley gave Minnetonka a two-goal lead just 22 seconds later.

Wolff scored his only goal with 2:05 to play in the third to give the Skippers an 11-8 lead. Wyer capped the run with his only goal, giving Minnetonka a 12-8 lead with 9:20 to play in regulation.

Freeman and Schliesman scored back-to-back goals with 8:01 and 7:39 to play, but Minnetonka shut the door from there.

“There is a lot to be said for senior leadership,” Olivier said. “Our seniors really did win the game for us. They came up huge. Our seniors willed us to victory.”