Lakeville North edges Stillwater in rematch in girls' lacrosse quarterfinals

When Lakeville North coach Laura Childs saw that the Panthers had drawn Stillwater as its quarterfinal opponent, she smiled. Stillwater had come out on top when the teams had met in April, but it was a matchup Childs wanted.

"They were our first game of the season and we were working on new things offensively," Childs said. "When we drew them, I was very excited. We wanted redemption."

The Lakeville North offense looked much more polished this time around in an 18-15 victory on Tuesday at Minnetonka High School. Junior attacker Olivia Mattis and Chloe Fisher each scored five goals for the Panthers, and Mattis added four assists.

"Definitely a lot of emotions coming in," Mattis said. "We'd lost to them before, so we were hungry for a big game today."

Lakeville North (13-4) led for most of the game, but Stillwater's quick-strike offense never let the Panthers get too far ahead. Lakeville North built a five-goal lead, 12-7, early in the second half. Stillwater rallied and tied the score 15-15 at 17 minutes, 14 seconds of the half.

Then Fisher scored on a feed from Mattis to give Lakeville North the lead for good. Mattis added an insurance goal and Fisher scored again with one second left.

"Whenever we got the ball, we were making sure we were calmed down and we were taking the right shot," Mattis said.

"Our defense made some really dumb choices," Childs said. "But we knew we would figure it out eventually. We've been working on it."

Breck 10, Forest Lake 9: Senior forward Polly Burns scored a career-high five goals to counter a physical defense and lead the Mustangs to victory in a matchup of first-time tournament entrants.

"Coach [Ashley Nelsen] said for the seniors, this was our last week ever playing lacrosse," Burns said. "It hit me hard and made me realize I just had to give it my all."

No. 3-seeded Breck took first-half leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but Forest Lake's rugged style allowed the Rangers to counter with four consecutive goals and take a 6-4 lead early in the second half.

The Mustangs tied the score 6-6 on back-to-back goals by Burns, after which the teams took turns scoring. Breck got the eventual game-winner from Elinor Applebaum.

Prior Lake 19, Maple Grove 6: Lauren Wick missed much of the Lakers' season with a stress fracture in one of her feet. The Lakers didn't miss a beat, chalking up a 15-1 record while averaging about 16 goals per game. The last thing the senior midfielder wanted was to be left behind.

Wick, who returned to the lineup for the section playoffs, was one of five Prior Lake players with at least three goals in the victory over Maple Grove. Wick added three assists.

"I was glad it wasn't the rest of the season," Wick said. "I was glad I still had a chance to come back and help the team."

Josie Kropp scored four goals for the Lakers while Wick, Payton Bloedow, Mackenzie Salentre and Jacqueline Little scored three apiece.

Maple Grove, (15-2) got two goals each from Chloe Corbin, Katie Wheeler and Emily Herdine.