The Prior Lake boys lacrosse team has enough talent and depth to win a third straight Section 6 title this spring.

Do the Lakers have enough to win a second state championship in three seasons?

That's one of the team's goals — to win another crown. Prior Lake finished sixth last year, compiling a 14-5 overall mark (7-2 in the South Suburban Conference.

Over the last three seasons under coach Chris Fleck, Prior Lake has an overall record of 44-10 (23-4 in the SSC).

"We have a strong group of guys returning from last year's team," Fleck said. "Our goal is to compete for conference, section and, ultimately, a state title. We feel we have the pieces in place to have the potential to go deep this year."

Prior Lake will have to replace a 50-goal scorer last year in Carter Collins, who was a Mr. Lacrosse finalist. 

But there's plenty of talent back on the offensive end, including senior John Loeffler, who had 28 goals last year, along with senior Jadon Dorn (18 goals, 8 assists), junior Ben Jung (16 goals, 9 assists), senior Bennet Holst (16 goals, 7 assists), senior Brock Penton (13 goals, 8 assists), senior Curt Murphy (7 foals, 4 assists) and junior Luke Bloedow (10 goals).

Defensively, seniors Theo Smith, Max Valek, Billy Kaehler and Preston Jelen are all back, as is senior goalie Tyler Wiederhoeft.

"Our depth of talent at all positions will be our biggest asset," Fleck said. "We have the ability to attack teams from many different spots and strategies. We are very excited for this season. We think we have an excellent group of players."

Others back include seniors Reece Montross and Alex Rejda and junior Riley Bachinski on the offensive end, seniors Logan Bloedel and Will Gilbert and juniors Patrick Juell and Joseph Barnard in the midfield and juniors Brian Kallberg, Lucas Gratz and Trenton Herubin on defense.

Sophomore Colin Nauertz is expected to back up Wiederhoeft in goal. Ninth-grader Keaton Sowder and junior Nate Whittier are also expected to make contributions in the midfield and up front, respectively.

Prior Lake was supposed to open the season April 14 at Blake, but the game has been postponed. So the Lakers' first game now is at Woodbury April 21 at noon.

The Lakers and Eagan, the defending state champion, are the two favorites in the SSC this spring.

Section 6 will also be tough as well with the likes of Prior Lake, Edina, Jefferson and Eastview, along with Rosemount, which comes over from Section 3.

Last year at state, Prior Lake played three one-goal games, falling 13-12 to Mahtomedi in the quarterfinals, beating Lakeville North 14-13 in the consolation semifinals and falling 5-4 to Eden Prairie for fifth place.

The year before, Prior Lake won its last 10 games en route to the state title, outscoring its three state opponents by a combined margin of 33-12. The Lakers outscored its three Section 6 opponents that year by a combined margin of 38-13.