CREVE COEUR – MICDS senior defender Tyler Petersen calls his team “battle-tested” and the benefits continue to show.
After playing a tough, out-of-state schedule that included one-goal victories against teams from North Carolina and Tennessee, the Rams found themselves locked in another back-and-forth battle Tuesday with talented in-state rival Chaminade.
Senior Holt Tipton scored the go-ahead goal, goalie George Herron made the game-saving stop, and Petersen helped the defense shut the door as MICDS defeated Chaminade 9-8 in a boys lacrosse game Tuesday at Chaminade.
MICDS (4-2), which notched its 21st consecutive victory against in-state opponents, defeated Chaminade for the 14th time in the last 15 meetings.
The last in-state setback for the Rams came in a 10-9 loss to Chaminade on May 7, 2021 – a loss still fresh in the memory of Herron after the game.
“It’s a little bit of redemption for me after they beat us my sophomore year,” Herron said. “That was a tough loss, but this is a good win for us.”
A win that required a patient, come-from-behind effort.
Chaminade (7-1) grabbed a late lead by not allowing MICDS to possess the ball for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Junior John Nicpon circled from behind the net to tie the score. Sophomore Finn Distefano wriggled free in front of the net to give the Red Devils an 8-7 lead.
“I felt really confident in our offense and what we were working,” Chaminade coach James Spink said. “Our individual matchups were open. I felt confident we were going to come back, and we did.”
But just 24 seconds later, MICDS freshman Graham Faust sent a laser past Chaminade goalie Phil Robson to knot the score again. Faust scored three times during the game, the first goal coming in a man-advantage situation.
In all, MICDS scored four times while executing its extra-man offense.
“Our offensive chemistry has been building and building, and today we started to trust each other really well,” junior Willy Carpenter said. “All the passes were on ropes, everyone had eyes on the top of their stick, and it was like we couldn’t be stopped. It felt really smooth, really flow.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, a penalty was assessed to Chaminade, and MICDS once again felt the flow. Carpenter snapped a pass to senior Mac Stevens who quickly located Tipton at the side of the net to put MICDS ahead 9-8 with six minutes to play.
“We’ve talked a lot about finding Holt on that back side because he’s a great finisher,” Carpenter said.
Chaminade, which was averaging 16.4 goals per game, still had plenty of time to find the equalizer, but had to find a way to beat Herron.
It did not happen.
Herron, who already had made several sensational saves during the contest, saved his best for last, kicking away a certain Chaminade goal with his right ankle with four minutes remaining.
“I just think about being really calm and being ready. I trust my defense so much that I’m never worried,” said Herron, who made 18 saves.
That defense, spearheaded by senior George Pronger, junior Tyler Tschudy and Petersen prevented further danger. Pronger and Tschudy each intercepted passes late in the contest, and Petersen prevented Chaminade playmaker Johnny Schlattman from finding room to operate.
“We have a lot of returning defensemen, and we felt comfortable matching up against their attack,” Petersen said.
A final 50-50 ground ball was scooped up by Tipton with 22 seconds remaining, and MICDS escaped with its third victory by a one-goal margin in its first six games.
“We have the No. 1 overall strength of schedule, and the gift of that strength of schedule is the patience that our guys showed,” MICDS coach Andy Kay said.
The Chaminade attack sizzled at the outset, as Nicpon, Schlattman, and senior Emmett Rossiter scored in the opening six minutes to build a 3-1 lead. The third goal was made possible when senior Peter Fesler absorbed a physical check from two MICDS players and found Rossiter at the doorstep.
The Red Devils matched the physicality of MICDS, but in doing so, often found themselves in the penalty box. The Rams capitalized on the Chaminade over-aggression by scoring the next three goals, including a buzzer-beater by freshman Mikey Getchewsky to give MICDS a 4-3 lead after one quarter.
The freshman duo of Getchewsky and Faust scored five of the nine goals for MICDS, including a pair on the man-advantage.
“We played a lot of guys in our first five games, and this week, we made some personnel decisions about the unit we were going to play with,” Kay said. “It was nice to see that group develop some chemistry, throw some nice passes and put the ball in the net.”
Goals by Carpenter and senior Zac Lippert sent MICDS into halftime with a 6-4 advantage, before a furious charge by Chaminade gave the Red Devils the lead with under eight minutes to play.
But smothering defense, huge saves and timely goals helped the battle-tested Rams prevail in yet another nail-biter.
“We just know how to pull through games winning by one goal,” Petersen said.
