Nerinx Hall started Thursday’s MSLA state semifinal in overdrive and never looked back, defeating MICDS 12-6.
The win improves the No. 1 seeded Markers to 16-2 on the season.
“That was a surprise. Hats off to MICDS. They come through every year and make it to the final four and in St. Louis that is tough to do,” Nerinx Hall Coach Jody Patterson said. “We came out with power and momentum and we were ready to play. That’s what I wanted to see from our girls. We’ve been working on that all season long. The Markers just wanted it a little more today. On any given day it could have been different.”
With the win, Nerinx Hall will face No. 3 seed Ursuline for the state championship on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Lindenwood.
“Ursuline brings it. They dominated against St. Joe the other day. They’re kind of like us. They’re hungry for a championship,” Patterson said. “It’s been a couple of years for them and we’ve never won it. Both teams are going to be gunning it. It’s a big rival. It’s going to be high intensity.”
On Thursday, the Markers jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.
“MICDS with their history of being an awesome lacrosse school, we knew we had to come out strong. We always play tough against them,” Nerinx Hall senior Emily Behr said. “Our transition was really on today. Plus our fundamentals, catching and throwing. We were all pumped and playing as a team.”
The team concept is something Nerinx has embraced all season.
“We wear Xs and shirts with Xs because it is team first,” Senior Lauren Boland said. “It’s all about being one. As exciting as it is, we weren’t thinking about Saturday.”
The two teams met earlier in the season but the outcome was much closer, with the Markers winning 6-5.
The No. 4 seeded Rams season comes to a close at 13-3
“Nerinx was nearly flawless. But I was proud of our girls for competing the entire game,” MICDS Coach Lynn Mittler said. “We’ve had a lot of come from behind wins this season so there was never a point where our girls didn’t think that they could do it. Nerinx was just out-hustling and they’re very strong.”
The Markers were issued some early cards and appeared frazzled. But the squad refocused and started playing its game.
Boland scored the game’s first goal less than three minutes into the game. Senior middie Molly Karl scored on a nice one-on-one move and Boland made a sweet flip pass to a cutting Behr, who scored to make it 3-0 with 16:41 left in the first half.
Behr returned the favor, dishing to Boland , whose goal put the Markers ahead 4-0. Behr then sent a low screamer to the back of the net and with 8:29 left in the first half, Nerinx Hall was up 5-0. Off a restart, Dory Finney scored her 20th goal of the year to put the Markers ahead 6-0 with 7:11 remaining.
The Rams showed some life in the final 3:34 as Molly Scott and Ellie Thiemann sandwiched goals around another Finney winner and Scott was able to score again with 3.9 left to cut the deficit to 7-3.
“That’s where you could see the spark in our kids' eyes,” Mittler said. “But then Nerinx kind of put the kibosh on that for us. We’re glad that we made them nervous the whole time.”
But Nerinx scored three unanswered goals to start the second half and put the game away.
Nerinx had great goalie play from junior Lizzie Puzniak, especially in the first half.
The Markers have been going back and forth between goalies all season and Puzniak had the game of her life, making key blocks, staying aggressive and motivating the defense.
“She was awesome. That was probably the best game that she has played,” Behr said. “She knew she had to go out and play tough because they have good shooters.”
If the Markers are able to duplicate Thursday’s performance on Saturday, Behr likes their chances.
“They’re a tough team but if we play like this we know we’re going to be fine,” she said.
Bears comeback against Bombers
Ursuline trailed No. 2 seed John Burroughs 5-2 at halftime but came screaming back to win 9-7 on Thursday.
“They pretty much talked themselves up,” Ursuline Coach Judith Anderson said. “I told them this was what all of their sacrifice was for. After halftime we were able to shut down their best players.”
The victory improved the Bears to 15-4 as they look to win their first state title since 2003’s championship run.
Ursuline got two goals apiece from Lindsey Brown and Lexi Warner. Also scoring for the Bears was Sarah McCarthy, Kara Ringkamp, Maria Schweiss, Ally Sykora, and Anna Maggiorotto.
The Bears graduated 13 senior from last year’s team, so making it to the state title game has been a growing process.
“There weren’t many who saw the field last year,” Anderson said. “A lot of the credit goes to our staff for being able to give each group a lot of attention.”
Ursuline lost Nerinx Hall by just a goal, 9-8, in early May. But the Bears are a much different team now.
“If the team that showed up tonight shows up on Saturday, we can run away with it,” Anderson said.
