ST. CHARLES — With each second-half goal her team scored Saturday afternoon in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association championship game at Lindenwood University, Nerinx Hall coach Jody Patterson became more animated.
"We had to keep pressing, we had to keep scoring to build up a little bit of a cushion," Patterson said. "But I was definitely getting more excited than my players."
That's probably just as well since the top-seeded Markers came away with an 11-8 victory over third-seeded Ursuline Academy. The state title is the first for the Markers, who had finished as runners-up in each of the past three seasons.
"It's definitely nice to get that monkey off our backs," said Patterson, whose team finished the season with an 18-4 record. "I have to admit, I was a little nervous going to halftime 4-4, because I didn't feel like we were playing our game. But after our halftime talk, I really loved the way my girls responded. We played with pure heart and passion and in the end, I felt like maybe we wanted it just a little more."
The Markers, who edged arch rival Ursuline 9-8 in a regular-season match May 6, were down 5-4 Saturday with less than 15 minutes to play when they made their move.
"I looked up at the clock and figured I had to step it up. And the rest of the girls stepped it up with me,'' said junior Emily Behr, who scored with 14:39 to play and again at 12:03 left to put Nerinx Hall on top to stay at 6-5. "Early in the game, I was just shooting to be shooting, but as the game went on, I started faking and then shooting, and that's when I was able to have more success."
Behr led the Markers with four goals. Senior Lauren Boland and junior Troy Cragen chipped in with two apiece. Emily Anglo, Dory Finney and Laura Hampel had the other Nerinx goals.
"They were face-guarding both Emily and me early, but I knew we'd be OK," said Boland, who led the Markers with 67 goals this season. "Emily and I are our main scorers, but we have a lot of girls who are going to score if you leave them open.
"Ursuline's a tough, tough team, but everybody stepped up and we finally did what we've been waiting four years to do.''
Ursuline, the 2003 state champion, finished 13-4. The Bears received two goals apiece from Lindsey Brown and Lexi Warner. Anna Maggiorotto, Maria Schweiss, Ally Sykora and Kara Ringkamp also scored.
In the third-place game, 2009 state champion John Burroughs defeated MICDS 12-9.
