ST LOUIS – The lit scoreboard at St. Louis University High glared down at players during team warmups Wednesday.
It illuminated a tie score and the jitters felt by players as SLUH and Priory readied to resume a Class 2 semifinal halted in the fourth quarter Tuesday due to inclement weather.
“It was really nerve-wracking,” SLUH junior Josh Bertram said.
Bertram overcame those nerves to score the tie-breaking goal and senior Henry Unger led a stifling defensive performance as SLUH defeated Priory 7-6 in the continuation of a weather-delayed Class 2 Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state semifinal Wednesday at SLUH.
SLUH (14-5), which advanced to its first MSLA state championship game since 2018, will face MICDS (16-5) in the Class 2 title game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hunter Stadium on the campus of Lindenwood University.
Marquette (11-4) will face Kirkwood (11-7) to kick off the championship festivities in the Class 1 title game at 5:00 p.m. Friday at Hunter Stadium.
SLUH recovered from a four-goal deficit to tie Priory 5-5 early in the fourth quarter Tuesday before the game was halted by looming thunderstorms in the area with 10:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“Coming back from down 5-1 was a big momentum-shifter, and the lightning delay was bad timing,” Bertram said. “We started really slow (Tuesday). We knew if we started slow (Wednesday), we were going to lose.”
SLUH began the restarted game with the ball in a man-up situation, but Priory threw in a wrinkle by locking Bertram with a personal defender. The strategy disoriented the Jr. Bills attack and they went the entire minute without attempting a shot.
But 6-on-6, the SLUH offense found its rhythm. Tough, 50-50 ground ball pickups by Bertram and senior Will Feise maintained possession for the Jr. Bills. Eventually, Feise circled behind the cage and spotted Bertram for a 12-yard, step down shot that entered the top corner of the net to give SLUH its first lead of the game with 6:35 remaining.
“It was great ball movement, and I was open at the top,” Bertram said. “We’ve been moving the ball really well the past couple of weeks and that ball movement sealed the deal for us.”
Another patient possession by SLUH led to a straight-away, 17-yard bouncer from senior Tim Browdy that took a hometown hop over the left shoulder of Priory goalie Colin Pim and tucked itself under the crossbar to give the Jr. Bills a 7-5 lead with 3:46 to play.
“I thought we were cool, calm and collective waiting for the perfect shot,” SLUH senior defender Henry Unger said. “Our offense did a great job putting the ball in the net when it mattered.”
Priory (12-5) had not yet put a shot on goal, but 18 seconds after Browdy scored, Ravens’ junior Mick Murphy flung a shot that hit the equipment of SLUH goalie Sam Dorsey and rolled behind him into the goal to slice the deficit to 7-6.
Then, Unger and the SLUH defense closed the door. In a wild, back-and-forth, final three minutes, Unger caused three turnovers, knocking the ball out of two Ravens’ sticks and deflecting an attempted pass that was gobbled up by Finn Barry and taken the other direction in the closing seconds.
“We talked last night that their offense runs through two main guys, so let’s be quick to slide there. A few of those turnovers were caused by being quick to slide to them so they couldn’t take it to the house,” Unger said.
Priory had its chances in the decisive 10:22 on Wednesday, but except for the Murphy goal, the Ravens could not maintain possession long enough to generate high-quality scoring chances.
“We had never been in this situation before, and unfortunately, we had a lot of nerves and we made a lot of errors,” Priory coach Tyler Orf said. “They had the ball more and that was the difference. We were just too nervous and it got the best of us.”
Priory showed no sign of nerves when the game began 22 hours earlier. Pim made 10 saves, several of the spectacular variety, junior Jack Parent scored three times, and after Ethan Foss found the twine late in the second quarter, the Ravens opened a 5-1 lead.
“We were winning faceoffs, we moved the ball well on offense, we were playing good team defense and (Pim) was fantastic,” Orf said.
But a goal by senior Sean Boyd prior to halftime gave SLUH a twinge of momentum. Bertram and Browdy scored in the third quarter, and Boyd tied the game at 5 early in the fourth before lightning in the area paused the game until Wednesday.
“I was so bummed when the game was stopped because we had a lot of momentum going, but I thought, ‘Things happen for a reason,’” Unger said. “I was saying to the boys, ‘It’s going to be really high energy, but we can’t play sporadic.’”
And the Jr. Bills were able to maintain their high energy while playing with poise and patience.
“(Priory) came out and determined the course of the game (Tuesday). We came back, then the game stops and we don’t have the momentum,” SLUH coach Andrew Toussaint said. “Our message was, ‘They had their opportunity. These next 10 minutes are our opportunity.’”
On Friday, the Jr. Bills will have another opportunity – to play for an MSLA state championship against powerhouse MICDS, winners of eight of the previous nine state titles.
On April 30, SLUH led MICDS heading into the fourth quarter before losing 10-7. Despite the loss, SLUH gained confidence that it could go toe-to-toe with the team it had lost to by an average of 12.9 goals over the previous nine meetings.
Now, with 21 seniors on the roster, this version of the Jr. Bills feels prepared to compete with the Rams on the biggest stage.
“The last couple years it’s been a head game for us. We’d be scared going in and have too much energy, but this year we came in calm and collective. It will be a really fun matchup (Friday),” Bertram said.
Unger added, “It’s completely doable, no doubt in my mind. Our team is special this year and we have what it takes. We’re excited for Friday night to go out to Lindenwood and compete.”