Senior middie Tim Girmus scored a game-high three goals to lead Millard South to a 3-2 victory over Millard North in a Nebraska High School Lacrosse Association game Thursday.

Senior middie John Marinkovick added one assist, and senior goalie Adam Ballard saved nine shots, as Millard South (4-2) continued its remarkable turnaround after going winless in 2008.

“We’ve shown a lot of progress since last year,” Millard South assistant coach Doug Rothgeb said. “Our confidence is really high right now.”

Millard North (1-5) has lost five straight since opening the season with a victory over Omaha Burke.

In a game that was shortened to 12-minute running-time quarters because of field-availability issues, yet still counted in the league standings, it was tied 1-1 at the end of the first quarter and at halftime.

Millard South took a 3-1 lead when Girmus scored his third goal with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter, and although the Patriots didn’t score again, they managed to hold on for the win.

“We started off slow,” Rothgeb said. “We came out really cold, but Tim really lifted us up. He played solid.”