The result wasn’t in the Huron girls lacrosse team’s favor on Thursday night, but it was exactly how coach Dan Madigan wants to see his team play.

After the River Rats led 2-1 in the early going, the Trojans rattled off three straight goals to take a lead they would never relinquish. Huron was able to tie the game twice, but never able to get over the hump and recapture the lead, falling 9-7 at Huron High School’s Riverbank Stadium.

“I think it was a good measure for us,” Madigan said. “We’re a very young team. We have a few good senior leaders, but overall we’re fairly young and I think to be able to run with a team is a very good learning experience for us.”

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East Lansing (7-2) scored three straight goals after trailing early to go up 4-2, but Huron (5-2) tied the score 4-4 after two straight goals from Keeley Erhardt. The Trojans countered with a two straight from Marie Fata and took a 6-4 lead into the break.

Fata had a hat trick in the first half and finished the game with four goals and an assist.

Kelsey Aaronson scored two straight goals to start the second half and the game was tied 6-6 with 16 minutes, 58 seconds remaining.

“I definitely think our momentum picked up some and the spirit of some of the girls,” said Aaronson, who finished with three goals and an assist.

East Lansing was able to take the lead back quickly - scoring the first of three consecutive goals within a minute of Aaronson’s game tying goal - and cruise from there.

“I think after they started scoring more, I think we just got down on ourselves,” Aaronson said.

Though East Lansing’s final goal came with 11:24 left in the game, Huron didn’t have much of a comeback attempt as East Lansing was able to win possession off the draw and maintain it for the greater part of the final 10 minutes.

“It was just a fast game, they’re a very talented team. They got us in transition, and when they did score, the draws, we couldn’t control them,” Madigan said. “That’s a big part of this game and I think they dominated on the draw control today.

“It gives them possession and then we’re chasing.”

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnAbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.