By Emily Vojtech

The Lakeville North Panthers and Prior Lake Lakers faced off in the MSHSL Boys Lacrosse State Championship on Saturday, June 17, at Stillwater High School. The stadium was packed with fans eager to see who would be crowned the 2023 state champions.

This was a re-match for the two opponents. They competed during the regular season on Tuesday, May 9, with the Panthers hosting that game. The Panthers took the win over the Lakers 19-12, so the Lakers were looking for redemption at the state championship. The Lakers were coming into this game with a record of: 14-4-0, and the Panthers came into the game with a record of: 16-2-0.

The two were tied multiple times during the close match-up. Lakeville North was up 6-5 at the half. After the third quarter, Prior Lake would take the lead 8-7. The Panthers were up 10-9 with 55 seconds left in the game, leaving spectators believing this one was over.

The Lakers tied the game with just 3 seconds left on the clock, 10-10, leading the game to head into overtime.

Senior midfielder for the Panthers, #7 Nathan Long would score the winning goal (his third goal of the game) to get his team the state championship. Long also scored the winning goal in overtime in their semi-final game against Shakopee.

On the score sheet for Lakeville North in the championship game were: Nathan Long (3), Blake Piscitiello (2), Austin Winship (2), Quinn Power (2), Leo Piscitiello (1), and Lane Johnson (1). Panthers goaltender Tyler Ahlvers made 7 saves (41% save percentage) in the game.