Second Quarter Rally Lifts Owatonna Boys Lacrosse Past Mayo

Owatonna beat Mayo 14-6 earlier this season, but was only up 1-0 after one quarter Monday night in Rochester. In fact Mayo pulled even at 1-1 early in the second quarter before the Huskies went on a 5-0 run to get control of the game on their way to a 10-6 win.

The first four goals in that stretch were scored by four different players. Nate Smith scored on a feed from Landon Thurnau with 8:35 to go in the second. Thurnau buried the ball with 7:15 remaining. Walker Nelson scored his second of the night on a strong rush from the left wing with 6:20 until halftime. Josh Nelson converted a back door goal off a great pass from Thurnau. Josh Nelson finished the five-goal run with 1:43 left in the quarter. Mayo scored just before halftime to trail 6-2 at the break.

Owatonna goalie Kenny Johnson and his Mayo counterpart Liam Claton each made numerous point blank saves throughout the evening and neither team could find the back of the net for most of the third stanza. Thurnau finally broke through with 4:17 left for a 7-2 lead. Smith set up Josh Nelson with a great centering pass for an 8-2 advantage with 2:58 to go in the third. Mayo scored twice in the closing seconds to make the score 8-4 entering the final 12 minutes.

Mayo converted a turnover into a goal with eight minutes left in the game to pull within 8-5. The Huskies answered less than a minute later on a great passing combination from Mitch Wiese to Walker Nelson to Josh Nelson for a 9-5 lead. Each team scored one more time for the 10-6 final.

Both meetings of the season were held at Mayo High School. The early season meeting was moved to Mayo due to snow on the field in Owatonna. The Huskies (6-2, 5-0) will host Northfield in a makeup game Wednesday at OHS at 6:30 pm. Friday they play at Northfield at 6:30 pm. The Friday game will be carried on Kat Kountry 105FM.