The two behemoths of division-2 boys lacrosse finally will have a chance to meet in the state title game after years of shutting out the rest of the field.

On Wednesday night, Sauk Prairie defeated MadLax Conference – White rival Stoughton, 9-4 to advance to the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation Division 2 state championship game. For their efforts, the Eagles will face three-time defending champion Catholic Memorial.

It is the first time the two teams have met in the title game, but Sauk Prairie is certainly familiar with this stage. Before Catholic Memorial went on its amazing run, the Eagles had appeared in back-to-back-back title games, taking the crown in 2011 over University School of Milwaukee.

“The players know the history, and they played against Catholic Memorial [in a 9-7 loss in April], but we’ve improved a lot since then,” Sauk Prairie coach Bennett West said.

In fact, the Eagles (15-3) went undefeated in conference play and notched victories over tough D1 opponents like Middleton and Waunakee.

On Wednesday night, however, Sauk Prairie had to get through the Vikings before making plans to travel to Waukesha. The Eagles were led by freshman attackman Willy Hanson, who scored five goals and dished an assist. Senior goalie Justin Johnson also saved 13-of-17 shots for Sauk Prairie.

Crediting a staunch Stoughton (14-7) defense, the Eagles were down 3-2 at halftime due in part to a variety of turnovers and an inability to get the ball into Vikings’ territory. However, Sauk Prairie improved in the second half by clearing better, getting through the attack to work from behind and practiced better patience while in possession of the ball, and the Eagles overtook the Vikings in the third quarter and poured in four goals in the fourth to seal the victory.

Sauk Prairie and Catholic Memorial will meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at Schneider Stadium on Carroll University’s campus in Waukesha.

There’s no hiding from the spotlight for this year’s edition of the Kettle Moraine boys lacrosse team.

During the Lasers’ 2016 championship run, Kettle Moraine was still considered an underdog as the team that made its first Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation title game appearance. In 2017, not only are the Lasers entering the final game of the lacrosse season as the defending champions and remain undefeated in Wisconsin, they’re favored to repeat after easily disposing of Wauwatosa in the semifinals with a 17-9 victory Wednesday night.

“Last year, I felt a lot less pressure because we hadn’t been there before and we were kind of the underdog,” said Lasers senior goalie Sam Shaver, who saved 10 shots and kept the Blazers well below their scoring average of 14 goals per game. “This year, I’m feeling more pressure because we can repeat, but the feeling is just the same.”

Kettle Moraine (19-3) took a 1-0 lead before Wauwatosa (18-2) tied the score early in the first. However, the Lasers took over the game from there, rattling off six unanswered goals to end the first quarter and scoring twice more to start the second to take a 9-1 lead.

“We started off hot and we rode that the rest of the game,” Kettle Moraine coach Michael Stefan said. “We were hot offensively because of our ride. They weren’t successful in getting the ball to their offensive end. When we were riding, our attackmen generated more opportunities and more possessions for us.”

Wauwatosa made a small run toward the end of the first half to cut Kettle Moraine’s lead to 11-5 as the Blazers scored three unanswered goals heading into the 4-minute, 10-second mark. However, senior middie Jordan Schmid responded with his fourth goal of the half to squash the comeback.

“They’re definitely a good team that goes on runs,” said sophomore attackman Chris Bender, who finished the game with six points (four goals, two assists). “We just had to get our team together defensively as a unit and stop their offense.”

Senior attackman Nick Psicihulis also scored six points for the Lasers. Sophomore middie Malloy Murphy added three goals for Kettle Moraine, as well.

Wauwatosa’s loss ended the prolific careers of some of the most talented players in Wisconsin, including senior attackman Kevin Maxey, who scored five goals for the Blazers. Senior attackmen Cameron Rosario and middie Jacob Cieszynski scored two goals apiece for Wauwatosa, as well.

In the state title game Saturday evening at Carroll University’s Schneider Field in Waukesha, Kettle Moraine will attempt to repeat as WLF state champions against Waunakee. The teams met in April when the host Lasers defeated the Warriors, 6-5.

It took a balanced attack of an incredibly athletic Arrowhead squad for the Waunakee boys lacrosse team to earn its first trip back to the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation state championship game. That’s exactly what Warriors coach Mike Reiter coaxed from his team as they defeated the Warhawks 12-6 to punch their ticket to Schneider Stadium at Carroll University Saturday night.

This is Waunakee’s first trip to the title game since 2014, when the Warriors lost to Verona, 7-6, in overtime. Waunakee won its last state championship in 2009 with a 7-5 victory over Arrowhead.

Waunakee (16-5) had five players who scored two goals apiece to lead the offensive charge: senior middie Brigham Borseth, junior Conner Smith, senior attack Brayden Johnson, junior Kam Olsen and sophomore attackman Jarrett Wulf. Junior Philip Lowney dished two of Waunakee’s six assists in the game.

On defense, Reiter said he encouraged the Warriors to keep the Warhawks on the outside of the perimeter, which they accomplished. Senior goalie Jeremy Krysinski saved 11-of-17 shots for the Warriors, as well.

“We didn’t cause a lot of turnovers, but we played good body-to-body man defense,” he said. “We also had some good off-ball movement for our goals.”

Waunakee will face defending-champion Kettle Moraine at Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The two teams met in April with Kettle Moraine walking away with a 6-5 victory.

With a dominant 2017 regular season, it looks like this could be the year the Wauwatosa boys lacrosse team finally would shake off its state title drought and officially join the elite programs in Wisconsin. After a resounding 17-12 victory over perennial powerhouse Hudson Sunday evening to advance to the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation semifinals, there’s no doubt the Blazers are on a mission to rewrite their reputation as an “also-ran.”

“It feels like this is the year for Tosa, so there’s a bit of pressure,” Tosa senior middie Jacob Cieszynski said. “But, we’re confident in what we can do, and it think we’re going to play to our potential.”

Wauwatosa (18-2) beat Hudson (13-6) via the faceoff, winning 29-of-33 matchups primarily with Cieszynski as the middie charged with grabbing possession after possession. The Blazers essentially played keep away with Hudson from there, building a 7-1 lead at 8 minutes, 34 seconds in the second quarter and never looking back.

“When Jake wins faceoffs, that helps us a ton,” Tosa senior attack Kevin Maxey said. “If we can get the possession on faceoffs 80 percent of the time, that really helps us keep the ball on our side of the field and kills their offense.”

Maxey led the Tosa offense with seven goals and three assists, and senior attack Casey Hagaman added four goals. Cieszynski scored three goals and chipped in two assists. Between the pipes, senior goalie Roman Myse saved nine shots for the Blazers.

Although Wauwatosa led by as many as nine goals in the third quarter, Hudson never threw in the towel. The Raiders managed to crawl back to within six goals with 8:24 left in the fourth quarter on sophomore middie Joe Murray’s second goal of the game, but that would be as close as the Raiders would get for the remainder of the game.

“We got down quick and we got down early, but we battled back, so I’m proud of my guys,” Hudson coach Jake Johnson said. “We got heart, but there was a lot of talent on their side of the ball.”

Hudson junior middie Conner Cole led the Raider offense with four goals. Senior attack Tanner Gornick contributed three goals, and sophomore attack Cole Danielson scored twice, as well.

Despite the bittersweet realization that Hudson’s senior captain triumvirate of Gornick, Nick Holter and Jake Gabrielson is moving on, Johnson is excited to see what the future holds for his Raiders. With 10 sophomores and six freshmen returning in 2018, this group has a lot of potential.

Wauwatosa, on the other hand, has earned a matchup with defending state champion Kettle Moraine on Wednesday night with a berth in the state title game on the line. Considering many of the Blazers’ seniors have been together since the eighth grade, Tosa coach Robin Buckley believes his squad has all the pieces in place to finally bring home the WLF hardware.

“The parents are behind the team and the coaches are behind the team, and we are trying to give them as many opportunities to be successful as possible,” Buckley said. “Hopefully, this will be their year.”

Considering the Franklin girls lacrosse program is only three years old, a regional playoff victory and a good showing against an established program like Waukesha would have been a great step for the fledgling Sabers.

But that wasn’t good enough for coach Jill Kyhn, who told her team that a state title in 2017 was well within their reach. They took one more step toward that goal Saturday evening as the Sabers took out Waukesha, 8-7, in overtime to advance to the state semifinals.

“We’re only three years into our program, and we have absolutely crushed it,” Kyhn said. “We know we’re not done. We’re looking for that state championship this year. We have the talent, we have the ability and we have the work ethic. It’s amazing how far we’ve come a long way.”

It certainly wasn’t easy for Franklin (12-5), which took a 4-2 lead after the first half. Waukesha (18-5) took control from there, scoring three unanswered goals – including two from senior middie Rina Niehoff to take a 5-4 lead.

The Sabers and Nighthawks traded goals the rest of the second half, with the lead changing hands three times before Waukesha took an 8-7 lead with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in the game on a goal by senior attack Catherine Raster.

It looked like Waukesha would advance to the semis until Franklin forced a turnover with 37 seconds left in regulation. Junior middie Cassie Allard was awarded an 8-meter arc shot, which she converted with 3 seconds in regulation to send the game into overtime.

“Cassie is a baller,” Kyhn said. “We talked to her before the game and we said, ‘You’re going to get that goal,’ and she got that goal.”

In overtime, it was sophomore middie Bella Barnard’s turn to play hero. She sent the Sabers to the semis with a goal off the arc at 1:39 in overtime, setting off a celebration three years in the making while silencing critics who said Franklin still wasn’t ready for a strong state run.

“A lot of the programs are saying how surprised they are that we’re coming this far, and we’re actually giving teams a good challenge,” Barnard said. “We just wanted to take out one of the teams in the top four and get an upset.”

Franklin also relied on freshman goalie Maddie Webler, who made her first varsity start in the most pressure-packed situation possible. Webler responded with 15 saves, include a number of stops on 8-meter shots, that kept the Sabers in the hunt the entire game.

“She absolutely stepped in and stepped up,” Kyhn said.

With the loss of 12 seniors who represent 70 percent of the scoring output, Waukesha coach Bill Paquin admitted it will be difficult to replace the class of 2017 in the coming years.

“Many of our seniors in the top of the scoring in our program’s history,” he said. “It’s going to be a chore that we’re going to have as a coaching staff to replace that.”

Next up for Franklin is perennial power Arrowhead Red on Wednesday.

Other Girls Quarter FInal Saturday Scores

WNS 14
Mukwonago 6

Arrowhead Red 17
Waunakee 1

University School 18
Middleton 7

Kettle Moraine boys lacrosse coach Michael Stephan admitted he kept several offensive plays in his back pocket for a good chunk of the Lasers’ state quarterfinals game against visiting Middleton. Once Stephan let his team off the leash, however, the Lasers showed why they have been the top-ranked squad in Wisconsin throughout the 2017 season.

The Lasers and the Cardinals played to a 6-6 tie entering the fourth quarter, but Kettle Moraine outscored Middleton 5-2 the rest of the way to earn the 11-8 victory and a ticket to the state semifinals.

“We were savings a few looks for later in the game just to see how they would counter,” Stephan said. “We didn’t want to throw the whole repertoire out there right away. We were feeling them out to see what they were trying to do and what they would give us.”

What Middleton (10-11) showed Kettle Moraine (19-3) was uncompromised resiliency. The Cardinals led 3-2 early in the second quarter before the Lasers went on a 3-0 run to close out the first half. Senior middie Jordan Schmid scored two of his game-high four during the stretch.

“Jordan is the leader of this team – it doesn’t matter how many goals he has,” Stephan said. “We’ve had many games where he might not score at all, but he did today because we needed him to. But his role is to carry us in whatever way we need him to, and today we needed him to score.”

Middleton managed to tie the game at six when senior attack Lane Wahlgren scored his second goal of the game for the Cardinals with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

However, the five-goal barrage in the fourth quarter gave the Lasers their berth in the state semifinals. Sophomore attack Chris Bender scored two goals during the run off assists from Schmid to seal the victory for Kettle Moraine.

“At the start of the game, we were really trying to force things early in our offense,” Schmid said. “This year, we talk a lot about just practicing the system and what we run, so in the second quarter we just started to settle into what we’re used to and started to play our game.”

Despite the Middleton loss, senior goalie Tyler Dohmeier had a standout game between the pipes. He managed to make numerous acrobatic saves while Kettle Moraine applied nonstop pressure at times throughout the game.

“Tyler was just standing on his head over and over, especially in the first half,” interim coach Karl Wahlgren said. “He had five possessions down there where he was making saves and we were turning the ball over between the 30s, and they kept coming back down.”

Although Wahlgren took over as head coach during the 2017 season, he is seeing off many seniors he has accompanied since they were in fifth grade. He admits their competition oftentimes was better, Wahlgren said no team played with more heart than the class-of-2017 Cardinals.

“We always haven’t been technically the best team, but we have always had more heart on the field until the last second goes off the clock,” Wahlgren said.

In other Boys Quarter Final Games Saturday

Waunakee 14
Marquette 8

Verona 9
Arrowhead 10

Boys D2

Catholic Memorial 12
Oneida 9

Deforest 8
Oregon 7

Sauk Prairie 17

University School 5

Stoughton 15
Notre Dame – Green Bay 9