Ninth-ranked Lakeville North has had the most difficult schedule of any team in girls' lacrosse.

It their first five games the Panthers have taken on No. 1 Eden Prairie, No. 2 Blake, No. 10 Apple Valley and now No. 3 Stillwater.

Lakeville North arrived at Stillwater High School on Saturday night with a 0-4 record, including lopsided defeats to longtime state powers Eden Prairie and Blake.

The Panthers fortunes finally changed, as senior Kacie Waagbo scored five goals and junior Logan Dobratz had two to give them a 12-11 victory, their first of the season.

"It's nice to get that first one," Dobratz said. "We've played the toughest schedule in the state so far, and just to get that first one gives us a lot of confidence moving forward."

It wasn't going to be easy against one of the best teams in the east Metro.

Lakeville North had a 12-10 lead and possession with less than 3 minutes to go, but a turnover allowed Stillwater's Maddie Kiner to score with 2:02 left in the second.

"I was kind of nervous, but we called a timeout and just said we have to remain calm," Dobratz said. "After that I think we did an awesome job on defense to close it out."

The defense throughout the second half was superb for the Panthers, who only allowed three goals after trailing 8-6 at halftime.

They tightened up as the Ponies' offense pushed forward, a bend-but-don't-break style that worked to near perfection.

"We all know how good they are, and that they are going to get their chances," Panthers' coach Mo Gaitan said. "We just had to stay calm in the last two minutes, and I knew that we would be fine. We have played the best teams so far and have learned what we need to do in those situations."

"Everything we did on defense was a lot better in the second," Dobratz said. "Our goalie was great, we executed and just played with a lot of confidence."

The Panthers were a preseason top-10 team, but four straight losses to start may have knocked them out of the upper echelon, but that does not matter to Gaitan right now.

"We just need to make sure we are getting better," she said. "It not about wins and losses at this point, but we need to be progressing. Tonight was a big win because it was against another great team, and this will give us the confidence that we had right when the season was starting."

Stillwater dropped its second consecutive 12-11 decision and is now 2-2. Carter Sanderson scored three goals for the Ponies and leads them with 12 already this season.

Waagbo and Dobratz lead the Panthers with 14 and 13 goals, who will gear up for two games next week at Rosemount and at home against Bloomington Jefferson.

"This was a nice win, now we got to take this and get ready for next week," Gaitan said.

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