Benilde-St. Margaret's patience and freshman Matthew Dowden's poise kept the Red Knights undefeated and a step closer to their boys' lacrosse state championship mission.
Dowden scored all three of his goals in the second half as undefeated Benilde-St. Margaret's outlasted an undermanned Mahtomedi team in a 9-6 semifinal victory.
Dowden iced Thursday's game at Minnetonka High School with a tremendous individual effort. Possessing the ball behind the Zephyrs goal, he eyed the dwindling scoreboard clock. When the goaltender came out to double-team Dowden, he wiggled free and scored with 1:18 left.
"He's smart," Red Knights coach Rob Horn said. "At the beginning of the year, he might not have made that play but it's a growth thing with freshmen."
The willingness of Benilde-St. Margaret's (17-0) to grind out a victory was missing from its quarterfinal victory.
Winning Thursday required a better effort, even though the No. 5 seed Zephyrs (14-4) were missing two injured attackmen.
"It was definitely thrown together at attack, but they played very well in these circumstances," said senior midfielder Josh Campbell, who scored four goals.
Dowden, who counts some of Mahtomedi's players as friends, said, "They played hard and I give them credit for that even being down two of their best players."
