EUREKA – The arrival of the Eureka girls lacrosse locomotive can be traced to a warm April night in 2022, when the Wildcats defeated gold standard MICDS for the first time in program history.
That victory became the springboard for three successive state title game appearances for Eureka, including the hoisting of the 2024 state championship trophy after defeating MICDS for a fourth consecutive time.
On Monday, in the same month and on the same field, MICDS hoped to return the favor and earn its own, signature victory.
“It really is between the ears,” MICDS coach Kate Haffenreffer said. “I know it sounds cliché, but for us, it became a mental thing against (Eureka). We do a lot of visualization and breathing (exercises) and today was about staying calm and being focused.”
Caroline Koman scored five goals, Josie Ciaramata added three, and the MICDS defense held Eureka to its lowest goal total of the season in a convincing 14-6 victory Monday at Eureka High.
MICDS (4-0), which scored at least 13 goals for the fourth consecutive game, defeated Eureka (7-2) for the first time since the 2022 state championship game.
“We knew if we stuck to our game and stayed disciplined, we could all lift together and have each other’s back,” senior Hattie Sloane said. “We played as a cohesive unit and it showed.”
That cohesion began in the draw circle, where Sloane directed the ball skyward and Ciaramata and senior Amelia Mackin retrieved it. MICDS gained a considerable advantage in draw controls Monday after Eureka decisively won in that area during last year’s state title game.
“That’s something we’ve worked on continuously this season and especially for this game,” Ciaramata said.
Defense proved another area of excellence for the Rams. Tied 2-2 in the first quarter, freshman Luisa Parietti knocked the ball from a Eureka stick, escaped a double-team and advanced the ball to Ciaramata, who found Koman for the go-ahead goal.
Three minutes later, senior goalie Sophia Huddleston denied a Eureka free position shot and Sloane converted it into a goal to give MICDS a 4-2 advantage after one quarter.
Huddleston made 11 saves, and along with defenders Parietti, senior Lucia Stoynoff, senior Melina Finnegan and junior Katie Sheehan, anchored a unit that held the explosive Wildcats to seven goals under their season average.
“Our defense has been working hard as a unit to figure each other out, to know what works and how to communicate and they were really locked in,” Haffenreffer said.
Excellence on defense and around the draw circle provided opportunities for the MICDS offense to work its magic. Constant player movement without the ball produced open targets, and Ciaramata fired fast balls from 20 yards away into the available sticks.
First, she zinged a 20-yard pass to senior Brooke Bernstein, who deposited a lefty shot into the top corner of the net. Then, after scoring a goal of her own, Ciaramata fired an 18-yard dart to freshman Victoria Noble, who gave the Rams a 7-4 halftime lead.
“I wouldn’t be able to make those passes if I didn’t trust my teammates to catch them,” Ciaramata said. “We had so much preparation for this game, knowing their style of defense, drawing those doubles and looking for the open person.”
That preparation occurred on both sides of the field.
During a lengthy practice the day before, MICDS used a scout team to simulate the offensive sets and defensive formations that Eureka employs.
“We spent a lot of time dissecting their attack and mimicked their plays and movement, which was super helpful,” Haffenreffer said. “And we knew they were going to play a zone with a backer, which they threw at us in the championship game last year and we weren’t able to break, so we really worked on that.”
But to break the four-game losing streak to Eureka, strategic preparation needed to be combined with mental confidence.
“We know what it felt like to feel defeated after the state game last year,” Koman said. “We came in with a strong mindset, especially on defense and the draw circle.”
With MICDS leading by three goals, Koman emerged from halftime exemplifying the word across the back of the Rams’ warmup shirts – ‘Tenacity.’
She converted a free position shot to open the third quarter, and 18 seconds later, sliced between two defenders to give MICDS a commanding 9-4 lead. In the fourth quarter, Koman accepted a pass from Mackin, pushed her way to the side of the goal and scored from an impossible angle for her fifth goal of the game.
“Relentless. Never stop. That’s what we’re going for, and today, we laid it all out there,” said Koman, who recently became the all-time leading goal scorer in MICDS history during an April 8 victory at Marquette.
In all, the Rams had seven different goal scorers and recorded assists on nine of their 14 goals.
“Their offense was constantly moving, all seven of them. It’s hard to cover an offense that is so active with the ball and without the ball. They created a lot of opportunities for themselves,” Eureka coach Melissa Menchella said.
MICDS sophomore Katherine Schott scored a pair of fourth quarter goals to leave no doubt of the outcome. After the final buzzer sounded, the Rams jubilantly celebrated in the center of the field with a clear understanding of the significance of their win.
The exuberant scene brought back memories of a similar celebration for a similar reason on the same field in April 2022.
“To have MICDS celebrate that much after beating you – that was us,” Menchella recalled in a moment of reflection of just how far the Eureka program has come. “But it’s not the end of our season, we’ll keep working away.”
And for MICDS, an important mental hurdle was overcome on Monday.
“We still have work to do, but for an early season game, I’m really proud of them,” Haffenreffer said.
For a photo gallery of this game, visit:
https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Girls-Lacrosse-2023-24/Girls-Lacrosse-2025/MICDS-vs-Eureka-4-14-25