SAPPINGTON – Lindbergh midfielder Zach Hnilo understood the stakes.
Despite being ranked as high as No. 2 in the state, the Flyers still had to prove they were the best team in the Suburban West conference when they faced two-time defending champion Lafayette on Tuesday.
“This was basically our conference championship game,” Hnilo said. “We came in knowing we were going to have to play the full 48 minutes.”
Hnilo scored twice during a dominant second quarter that powered the Flyers to a 9-4 victory over Lafayette at Lindbergh High.
Lindbergh (12-4), which also got a hat trick from senior Luke Wolfard, snapped a three-game losing streak to Lafayette and won for just the fourth time in the last 17 meetings against their conference rivals.
With the game tied 2-2, Lindbergh began the decisive second quarter by putting the defensive clamps on Lafayette. The Flyers deflected clearing passes, scooped up the resulting ground balls and tilted the field in their direction.
“It was ground balls and it was our rides,” Lindbergh coach Corey Paffrath said. “We were sticking on them super-hard and they were really struggling to clear the ball against us. I felt like every time they would make a mistake on the clear, we would scoop up the ground ball and go right back.”
And once Lindbergh earned the ball, the offense made it count.
First, Wolfard scored off an assist from Finn Duckworth. Two minutes later, senior Jack Plager converted a pass from John Patrick Willick – the first of three assists dished out by Willick.
“We’re a pass-first team,” Willick said. “We try to move the ball, look for the assist and create ‘presents’ for our teammates.”
And the Flyers’ unrelenting effort was the gift that kept on giving.
With Logan Swan commanding faceoffs, and the Flyers’ midfielders collecting 50-50 ground balls, Lindbergh continued to put pressure on the Lafayette defense.
Hnilo accepted a “present” from Willick to make it 5-2, and 42 seconds later, he beat a crowd of Lafayette defenders to a loose rebound and scored again. Henry Kraft scored the fifth goal of the quarter against an exhausted Lancers’ defensive corps and gave Lindbergh a five-goal lead at halftime.
“Whether it was a ground ball, a defensive stop or a ride, all the guys just emptied the tank,” Hnilo said.
Lafayette cleaned up its clearing game and increased its intensity in the third quarter. Goals by sophomores Levi Vellines and Rhett Adamovsky sliced the deficit to 8-4, but the Lindbergh defense, led by Sam Stryjewski and goalie Eli Groupp, allowed no goals over the final 15 minutes of action.
“Their effort level definitely took over the game,” Lafayette coach Jason Seidel said. “We came back (after halftime) with more energy and more fire, but it was too little, too late.”
After a slow start to the season, Lafayette (7-6) entered the conference clash with Lindbergh riding a five-game winning streak, thanks to an efficient offense and a physical defense that yielded only 4.8 goals per game over that stretch.
“We did some soul-searching. When you start 2-and-5, you have to bring a work ethic to practice and push yourself to get better,” said senior captain Jack Behl, Lafayette’s leading goal scorer and one of 17 seniors on the team.
But the red hot Lancers could not slow down a Lindbergh locomotive which has spent several weeks as either the No. 2 or No. 3 team in the Missouri Lacrosse rankings.
“It’s a lot of pressure being ranked that high as a public school. It doesn’t happen often,” said Wolfard, a Rockhurst commit. “It’s definitely been tough, but it’s been very cool to be uncomfortable up there.”
Wolfard also has thrived individually, despite facing heightened attention from opponents as the area’s leading point-getter and Lindbergh’s all-time leading scorer.
“Sometimes it’s a little frustrating when they’re always on my hands. I try to get open and I can’t get anywhere, but I’ve been working on ways to get myself open and making cuts to help my teammates get open,” said Wolfard, who raised his area-leading totals to 48 goals and 71 points on Tuesday.
With seniors like Wolfard, Plager and Javonte Tiller leading the charge, the Flyers will look to clinch a conference title Saturday at Eureka before embarking on a postseason filled with promise.
“We’re trying to take a stride every single game, every single practice, and we’ve kind of found our place,” Wolfard said. “We realized where we succeed, where we fail, and our team is flowing as one.”
He added, “It’s going to a brawl, but we think can make a pretty big run.”
For a photo gallery of this game, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/2024-Boys-Lacrosse/Boys-Lacrosse-2025/Lafayette-vs-Lindbergh-4-29-25
