OAK PARK HEIGHTS - A stout defensive effort helped pushed the Stillwater girls' lacrosse team to an 8-3 nonconference victory over Coon Rapids in Tuesday's season opener at Pony Stadium.

The Ponies jumped out to a 4-0 halftime lead and extended the lead with goals by Dana Almquist and Hannah Dickman to start the second half and were never seriously challenged.

Coon Rapids returned several players from a team that the Ponies edged 9-8 in last year's section semifinals so Stillwater coach Rick Reidt was pleased with Tuesday's outcome.

"Coon Rapids had the best record in our section last year," the coach said. "I was just really pleased with how our team responded, because they're a strong team."

Dickman scored four goals, including a natural hat trick in the first half, to lead the Ponies (1-0), who were missing three starters. Almquist added two goals and two assists while eighth-grader Remi Larson contributed two goals in the second half.

But Stillwater's defense was the story on Tuesday, including a strong effort from goaltender Kelsey VanDerBosch.

"I think it's the best defensive game we've played in three years," Reidt said. "We had a shutout going into about the 17-minute mark of the second half and the whole defense played great, the attackers, the midfielders and our defenders.

"Kelsey did a great job and our defense just really played well. We didn't score a lot of early goals and she came up with a lot of strong saves early in the game. Emily Norkol played a strong game and Katie Casto also played very well at defense."

The team was able to achieve other goals.

"Before the game we set some goals for our team and one was no yellow cards," Reidt said. "We were able to play very aggressive pressure defense without causing fouls or penalties.

"We also set a goal of scoring 50 percent of our eight-meter shots. That's something we've been spending a lot of time at as a team and I think our first two goals were eight meters."

n Also on Tuesday, Tessa Roush scored six goals to help lead the Stillwater JV team to a 10-4 win over the Cardinals. Clara Wicklund contributed two goals and Natalie Bourman-Karns and Erin Dougherty added a goal each. Marie Bonine and Grace Mortenson split the goaltending duties for the Ponies.

Coon Rapids 0 3 - 3

Stillwater 4 4 - 8

Goals - CR, Sammi DeJoy 2 and Amanda Michalski; St, Hannah Dickman 4, Dana Almquist 2 and Remi Larson 2.

Assists - St, Almquist 2, Sydney Evensen, Emily Gould and Savannah Handevidt.

Saves - St (Kelsey VanDerBosch) NA.