SLIDESHOW: St. Louis Park Falls in Lacrosse Opener

The Rosemount/Eagan Wild Irish beat the St. Louis Park Orioles Thursday night at home.  The Orioles came out strong in the beginning, scoring two quick goals.  But the Wild Irish quickly turned things around, controlling the play for most of the first half and getting a majority of the scoring chances.  Junior attacker Simone Haugen scored four of the team's first eight goals, while junior attacker Cassie Miller put in two of her own. Rosemount/Eagan led at the end of the first half, 8-3.

In the second half, the Orioles played hard and managed to gain some ground back on the Wild Irish.  Both teams had their chances throughout the half, with the Wild Irish capitalizing on four of them, while the Orioles managed to net five goals of their own.  The Orioles had a flurry of opportunities at the end, but the Wild Irish stood strong defensively and got the win, 12-8.

Wild Irish coach Jeff Smith said he was pleased with his team's effort, noting that the team had set a defensive goal of allowing eight goals or fewer. 

"It was a great start to the season" he said.