CREVE COEUR – Ladue senior Mia Wallis was keenly aware of the talent on the other side of the field with the area’s top goal scorer, Kendra Swope, leading undefeated Francis Howell North onto Ladue West campus on Monday.
“That was part of my motivation,” Wallis said. “I knew that I needed to come out and match her.”
She did exactly that.
Wallis and Swope each scored nine goals, and the Rams’ supporting cast took care of the rest as Ladue continued its turnaround season with a 17-11 victory over Francis Howell North.
Ladue (7-1), which lost its first 12 games last spring, secured its fifth consecutive victory by holding the explosive Knights to their lowest goal output of the year.
Following the game, Ladue players gathered in a circle, powered up a speaker and danced to their theme song, “Disturbia” by Rihanna.
“We’re big this year on celebrating,” said Ladue junior Kate Margulis. “It could be a tiny thing or it could be a huge win against an undefeated team, but it’s a time for us all to come together and let all our happiness out.”
At one point, the Ladue players bellowed the line, “It’s too close for comfort.”
And that was surely the Rams’ feeling when Swope withstood double and triple-teams and helped Francis Howell North slice a six-goal deficit to three during a 1 minute 13 second blitz early in the second half.
“Every team knows who she is, so we don’t ever have a game where she isn’t at least double-teamed,” Francis Howell North coach Barbara Hill said. “She struggles in that sense, but at the same time, she doesn’t struggle because she still gets the goals.”
Francis Howell North (8-1) was experiencing a resurgence of its own. The Knights, which accrued a 2-15 record in 2021, were in the midst of their longest winning streak in the eight-year history of the program, helped in large part to Swope, who recently tallied the 200th goal of her career.
But Wallis was determined to match the dynamic Howell North scorer at the other end of the field.
Wallis withstood a physical check that knocked her to the ground and led to a free-position goal. She took another bruising hit moments later as she continued to dissect the interior of the Howell North defense.
Five yellow cards were administered to the two teams in the second half alone due to the volume of physicality, but Wallis refused to shy away from the contact.
“I wanted to be there for my teammates, so I didn’t let that (physicality) get in the way of hustling,” Wallis said.
Wallis also hustled on defense, dislodging the ball from the stick of Howell North senior Tommie Schaljo to thwart a free position attempt. Then, she scooped a contested ground ball that eventually led to a goal by Ladue freshman Vicky Derdoy and extended the lead to 13-8.
But Swope, who has verbally committed to play lacrosse at Grand Valley State, proved to be un-guardable, no matter how many defenders Ladue put in her path.
She swooped through crowds of bodies to score, and when the Rams prevented her from driving, she fired in goals from the perimeter. Swope’s eighth goal of the game sliced the deficit to 13-10 with 12:38 remaining.
“She is so good,” Ladue first-year coach Carrie Lampe said. “She’d (score) every way. She crease-rolled on the left, she drove from the top, free positions, off the draw. She is just a force.”
The Rams had their own force.
Wallis sprinted right and shot left for a goal, then made a spin move in traffic, took another hit and scored on a free-position attempt. Finally, she stripped the ball from Swope on the defensive end and started a transition opportunity that sophomore Yael Sabin finished to help Ladue build a 16-10 lead with under eight minutes remaining.
“When Mia’s on, the whole team is going to be successful,” Lampe said.
That success began immediately when Ladue won the opening draw and Derdoy scored 22 seconds into the game. The freshman Derdoy scored twice and played a crucial role on defense, winning four ground balls.
“Sometimes it can be a lot of pressure (as a varsity freshman), but my teammates are always there for me, being supportive and hyping me up,” Derdoy said.
Ladue won four of the first five draws with Sabin inside the circle, locking sticks with her club teammate Swope.
The draw, which is normally an advantage for Howell North, was a strength for Ladue on Monday, with Wallis and junior Kate Margulis retrieving the well-placed aerials that Sabin generated and helping the Rams build a 4-1 lead in the opening five minutes.
Sabin scored three goals Monday, and Margulis was a leader defensively, organizing a unit that, while focusing on Swope, allowed only two goals to other players.
“We’re able to be successful (defensively) by working together. We all have eyes on each other and we just help each other out,” said Margulis.
That sense of togetherness is what Wallis credits for a Ladue turnaround from a team that scored only 26 goals through its first 12 games last spring, to a team that has earned a 7-1 record to start this season, with the only loss coming by one goal to Kirkwood.
“If I didn’t give most of the credit to Coach (Lampe), then I don’t think that would be truthful. She came in and totally turned us around. She instilled in us that we are not just teammates, we are best friends,” Wallis said.
She added, “Getting that camaraderie between teammates is how we’ve been able to fight so hard together.”
And dance so much together.
