CREVE COEUR – Priory goalie Colin Pim needed a moment.
Not a moment of pause or reflection, but a signature moment to change the fortunes of both his team and himself.
The All-American goalie, normally a brick wall in front of the cage, had trouble tracking the sneaky Parkway West shots early Thursday as the Longhorns jumped out to a sizable lead.
“As a goalie, one save can turn things around, and if you get that first one, that’s all that matters,” Pim said.
Pim made a brilliant save on a breakaway to change momentum and then shut the door in the fourth quarter, as Priory erased a five-goal deficit to defeat Parkway West 11-10 Thursday at Todd Stadium.
Priory (8-3), a Class 2 state semifinalist last year, handed Parkway West (8-1) its first loss of the season.
“We needed this win and we knew it. It means so much for our season going forward. It gives us a lot of momentum,” said senior Jack Parent, who scored the game-winning goal with 1:37 remaining.
That momentum was solely on the side of Parkway West after early Priory turnovers and penalties created a territorial advantage that junior Leyton Usry and his Longhorns’ teammates exploited.
Usry’s underhanded laser opened the scoring, and his man-advantage goal early in the second quarter gave him a hat trick and staked Parkway West to a commanding, 6-1 lead.
“I was really proud of how we came out flying,” Longhorns’ coach Pete Stirling said.
Parkway West led 7-3 in the closing moments of the half when Usry intercepted a clearing pass and came in alone on a breakaway for a superstar-on-superstar, one-on-one confrontation that turned the game around for Pim and the Ravens.
“I stepped out to the right, and kind of baited him to the left side. I saw him duck his head and I assumed he’d go low, so I sold out on it and luckily I got it,” Pim said. “A save like that gives you the energy to keep going. It gives the whole team momentum.”
His save was immediately rewarded, as Sam Jung scored in transition seconds later. Will Puschel’s goal with 1.7 seconds remaining in the half cut the deficit to 7-5 and allowed Priory to float into halftime with energy and confidence.
“Going into halftime, I was talking to my defense, ‘Those first couple (goals) are on me. Keep playing the way you’re playing, and I’ll step it up,’” Pim said.
Pim made good on his promise immediately. During a man-down situation, he rejected a Usry laser and stuffed sophomore Will Haddox twice from point blank range.
A goal by Priory senior Mick Murphy, who returned to action after missing multiple games due to a knee injury, sliced the deficit to 7-6. It seemed like Priory had fully recovered from its rocky start, but senior Lukas Peterson and the Longhorns showed why they were undefeated.
Peterson converted a pass from Usry to end the Longhorns’ 11-minute scoring drought. Then, he gathered a pass from junior Pierce Jumper and scored 35 seconds later. Finally, he emerged from behind the net and completed a string of three successive goals in less than two minutes to push the Longhorns’ lead to 10-6.
“A natural hat trick, three in a row,” Stirling said. “We’ve had some bad third quarters lately, so we changed some things up at halftime, different routines, and that worked.”
But for the final 14 minutes of action, Pim did not fish another ball out of his net.
Early in the fourth quarter, Pim stuffed Usry twice from in tight and then made an unbelievable, right leg stop on a cutting Nolan Orr.
“I told myself I had to step it up and I did,” Pim said.
Murphy scored for Priory with 7.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and in the final frame, the Ravens’ secondary scorers brought them all the way back. A shot on the run by Thomas Kraeger, an underhand rocket by Tyler Witkowski and a man-up goal by Sam Jung tied the score at 10 with 6:33 remaining.
“We had to trust everybody, and our role players stepped up and had a great day,” Parent said.
Parent, the team’s leading scorer, had been held scoreless throughout the game when Priory took a timeout with under two minutes remaining.
The Ravens designed a play – specifically to get Parent the game-winning shot?
“Not at all,” Parent laughed. “The goal was to take some time off the clock, but they locked off everybody. Essentially there was nobody to slide to me, so I kept going and took the shot.”
Parent ran right and fired left to give Priory its first lead of the game with 1:37 left.
A final Parkway West chance by Peterson bounced over Pim’s shoulder and hit the crossbar before Pim made one final, game-clinching save on the rebound attempt to cement the Ravens’ victory.
“Their guys made plays, and their goalie made some incredible saves, especially in the fourth quarter,” Stirling said. “They were outworking us on ground balls and sometimes luck favors the team that is working harder. We tried to get the momentum back, but once you start losing momentum, it’s hard to get back.”
Parkway West (8-1) has ridden a wave of momentum to become one of the area’s top teams and will face Lindbergh (10-3) at 7:45 pm Tuesday at Parkway North in a battle of two public school powers.
“That’s a big one for us. That will be the unofficial battle for the best public school,” Stirling said. “We’re building. We want to be one of these top five or six teams in the state, and I think we’re getting there.”
And for Priory, which advanced to a Class 2 state semifinal last year for the first time in program history, the trajectory of this season took a major jolt upward on Thursday.
“This team understands that grit and effort are what win close games. Every ground ball in the fourth quarter was a battle and that’s what propelled us,” Pim said.
Of Priory’s three losses, two have been by a one goal margin, including an overtime setback to De Smet on April 9.
“Hats off to (Parkway West), they really wanted it, but we wanted it too. It took a lot of grit, and we needed that,” Parent said. “This (win) means so much.”
Photo gallery at https://benvessa.smugmug.com/2024-Boys-Lacrosse/Boys-Lacrosse-2025/Parkway-West-at-Priory-4-17-25
