Following a loss, usually the head coach comes away with a much more negative outlook on their team’s performance.

But that wasn’t the case for the Lakeville North girls soccer coach Jeremiah Johnson Monday night.

“It’s a stupid game sometimes,” Johnson said. “You can play fragmented against one of the best soccer programs in the state and still pull out a draw. And then come out here and play nearly flawless, hit the post twice, and lose.”

With the ball not bouncing in North’s favor Monday night at Panther stadium, the Panthers suffered their first loss of the 2014 season to the Minneapolis Washburn Millers. The 1-0 loss wasn’t what the team expected going into their second game of the season. But, Johnson still remains optimistic as the season is in its early stages.

“What I told them is that they have to be extremely positive about their performance tonight and just keep building on this (game),” Johnson said. “This (game) was very pretty. It was very fun to watch. It was much more fun to watch than the last game.”

Early on, the epitome of Johnson’s quote was junior Hannah Cade. The Iowa State commit was around the ball all night. Cade also displayed an impeccable ability to slide tackle on defense.

Unfortunately, there was no margin for error and a communication error between Cade and goaltender Taylor Lock ultimately allowed the only goal of the game.

Just over 16 minutes into the match, Cade whiffed as she attempted to steal the ball. After Cade recovered by slide tackling the Miller forward, Minneapolis Washburn’s Morgan Cottew scored off the rebound of Lock’s initial save.

“It was a miscommunication between Hannah Cade and I,” Lock said of the goal she surrendered. “As the ball played back, I tried to react to the shot and got something on it but couldn’t secure (the ball).”

While the miscommunication gave Minneapolis Washburn the win, the former Mercer University goaltender in Coach Johnson came away extremely happy with the play of the first year varsity starter, Taylor Lock.

“She’s only a sophomore but she’s one of the best goalkeepers in the state and she showed it tonight,” Johnson said.

The Panthers came extremely close to scoring late in the game when the ball rattled off the post twice. As North attacked the Miller net often late in the game, the entire Panther bench stood and watched as the Panthers got close to tying the game.

Ultimately, North’s late surge wasn’t enough to give the Panthers a victory. But, the coaching staff understands that to find future success, the team will need to play as they did in the second half.

“The whole coaching staff sat there at the end of the game all looking at each other saying, “I don’t think there is anything we can do differently right now because they’re playing at an extremely high level,” Johnson said. “I think we just need to replicate what we did here in the last 30 or 40 minutes of the game.”