Although Rockhurst and Eureka were seeded first and second, respectively, the undefeated Hawklets were a heavy favorite going into Saturday's Division I Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association title game with Eureka.
But with the exception of a 1:48 span midway through the third quarter, the Wildcats were every bit the equal of their opponent Saturday at Lindenwood University.
During that crucial span, Rockhurst scored three times, stretching a 4-3 lead to what proved to be an insurmountable four-goal advantage. The Hawklets (17-0) held on from there for an 8-6 win to cap an undefeated season and grab their fourth state crown. Eureka, the first public school team to make the championship game this decade, finished 12-4.
Nothing came easy for the Hawklets in the 'final four.' Rockhurst was losing at halftime and needed overtime to defeat MICDS by a 10-9 count in the semifinals. After surviving that, Rockhurst goalie Scott Brown said the Hawklets were not going to settle for second place.
"We would not have accepted second," said Brown, who was named the tourney's most valuable player. "After we came back against MICDS we're like, 'It's going to happen. We're going to do it.' "
Rockhurst defeated the Wildcats on April 22 by a 10-6 count. But Eureka's Ryan Gardner, who had a hat trick for the Wildcats in Saturday's game, said that was a different Eureka team back then.
"It did help that we played them because we knew what they had," Gardner said. "We knew how to play them, and they knew how to play us.
"But we felt confident. We really have played a lot better since mid-April when we played them."
Nevertheless, the Hawklets appeared poised for a blowout Saturday when Nick Julian scored 25 seconds into the contest. But Eureka answered with a goal by Matt Vollmer with 6:14 left in the quarter and the teams basically traded punches the rest of the half with Rockhurst taking a 4-3 lead into halftime.
The lead may have only been a goal, but Rockhurst coach Jay Coleman was happy with where his team stood.
"We thought we could wear them down," Coleman said. "We had a lot more bodies and they kept playing the same guys. We thought we would have a good chance coming out of halftime."
It was still 4-3 when Vollmer was penalized for 30 seconds for illegal procedure with 5:42 left in the third quarter. Rockhurst's Peter Muehlebach took advantage of that mistake by drilling home a shot from the left side to make it 5-3 with 5:18 left in the quarter.
Before that goal had even been announced, Matt Ward won the draw, went on a run and scored 11 seconds after Muehlebach. Then just 1:37 after that, Muehlebach scored again off a feed from Julian and all of a sudden a one-goal game became a 7-3 Rockhurst advantage.
This was a story that Gardner had seen before.
"Unfortunately, throughout the season, we have had some breakdowns like that," he said. "But we know how to react. It was just too little, too late."
Gardner certainly knew what to do, as he scored on a wraparound effort of sorts with 1:17 left in the third quarter to make it 7-4. He scored again with 6:01 left in the game to make it a game at 7-5. But Rockhurst's Henry Crowe sealed it with a goal with 3:12 left and the Hawklets held on from there.
"I think we did play even with them, but not up to what we could have played," said Gardner, who also scored Eureka's final goal.
Eureka coach Jon Silva said the Wildcats will continue to try to grow and take the next step.
"We really put in a lot of work over the summer and helped grow the program," Silva said. "We'll continue to do that."
