The rains came down and the floods came up at Highline Stadium last Thursday, but the Kennedy Lancers still rose to the occasion.

Kennedy shook off the rain -- and the Mount Si Wildcats -- by a 2-1 score and advanced into Saturday's Class 3A girls soccer state quarterfinals that were played after press time.

Saturday's winner advances into the semifinals and possibly the finals at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium at Sumner this coming Friday and Saturday.

But it almost looked like the Lancers would not be the team that would go on, as the Wildcats got the early jump on Kennedy.

Mount Si stormed out of the gate, with Nikki Stanton scoring in the fifth minute of action for a 1-0 lead.

Stanton's shot caught the right corner and skidded on in for the score.

Kennedy had an answer to the problem, although the tying and winning goals did not come until the second half.

Julia Besagno broke the scoring drought in the 57th minute of play, taking an assist from Amanda Arntz and drilling it past a logjam of players.

That knotted the scoreboard at 1-1,

Besagno also bagged what turned out to be the winning goal in the 66th minute. Besagno took an assist from Marissa Monson and bounced a shot past the Mount Si goalie and on into the back of the net.

Close shots -- and close saves -- happened throughout the game especially in the second half, but all were saved toward the end to preserve Kennedy's 2-1 victory.

Ashley Engel had two saves on goal for the Lancers and Jessica Blessard had seven saves for Mount Si.