MARYLAND HEIGHTS – Villa Duchesne senior Finley Meek circled the date in her planner prior to the season.
The yearly field hockey matchup between St. Joseph’s and Villa Duchesne has evolved into a festival of costumes, balloons and enthusiasm as the teams played in front of a massive crowd Sunday at at Sport Port in Maryland Heights.
“It motivates me,” said Meek of the electric atmosphere. “It gets our whole team excited and makes us play better.”
Meek scored the game-winning goal midway through the fourth quarter to propel Villa Duchesne to a 2-1 victory and hand the Angels their first loss of the season. Villa Duchesne (7-3-1) defeated St. Joseph’s (10-1) for the fourth time in the last five meetings with each game decided by a one-goal margin.
The dress-up theme for St. Joseph’s was the golf tournament “The Masters,” applying its tagline, ‘A tradition unlike any other” to the annual field hockey extravaganza. Parents dressed as caddies with their daughter’s name and number adorning their white jumpsuits while St. Joe’s students wore green jackets and visors in correlation with the school colors.
“It’s such a fun experience for anyone to get to play in front of this kind of crowd. The energy was awesome,” St. Joseph’s coach Claire Aubel said.
Villa Duchesne supporters chose Formula One racing as its theme. Those leading cheers dressed in full racing suits, while students in the bleachers wore racing attire and waved checkered flags while cheering vociferously throughout the game.
“The atmosphere is fantastic,” Villa Duchesne coach Kate Graft said.
Both teams fed off the energy of the crowd and earned penalty corners during the opening five minutes. Villa Duchesne declined opportunities to shoot during its corner opportunities and often sought out an extra pass that did not connect.
St. Joseph’s had the opposite approach. Senior Lyla Kaminski accepted a pass off the insertion, dribbled right and fired a 3-iron into the back of the cage to give St. Joseph’s a quick, 1-0 lead less than six minutes into the contest.
The Angels kept Villa Duchesne off the scoreboard throughout the first quarter due to an outstanding, left leg save by senior goalie Mary Malloy and several excellent defensive plays by freshman Ellie Oster, including the thwarting of a Saints’ breakaway attempt with a clean tackle from behind after a 20-yard sprint.
“She is very athletic and very talented,” Aubel said of the freshman Oster. “Some people try to ignore the momentum of the crowd, but she was loving it.”
Midway through the second quarter, sophomore Hannah Ponciroli changed the momentum. She dribbled the ball to the top of the circle, cut to her left, and sent a reverse shot towards the net that avoided sticks and nestled inside the far post to tie the score at 1.
“I tried to go strong to the cage and I wanted to get off a quick shot,” said Ponciroli, who delivered her team-leading 11th goal of the season. “Once we scored, I felt it slowed them down a little bit and allowed us to push up more and get more confident in our passes and touches.”
Ponciroli perfectly followed the racecar theme, often motoring 30-to-40 yards with the ball on her stick faster than those running without a ball. Her centering pass to junior Trudy Redmond was tipped just over the frame to end the first half and she continued to generate offense and earn penalty corners throughout the second half.
“She has really turned it on this year,” Graft said of Ponciroli. “She has always been pretty impressive, and (Sunday), she created a lot of opportunities for herself and her teammates.”
Twice, St. Joseph’s celebrated what it thought was the go-ahead goal. In the second quarter, junior Lexie Schmidt put the ball in the net but used the back side of her stick in the process. Later, a shot by senior Maddie Croghan was deemed to have traveled higher than is permitted by rule.
Having survived Amen Corner, Villa Duchesne pitted the decisive, second goal midway through the fourth quarter when junior Lauren Pelikan made an interception and sent a pass across the circle where Meek was revving her engine.
“I knew once we got the ball on the baseline that I needed to get to the back post,” said Meek, who scored her fourth goal of the season and first game-winner.
St. Joseph’s still had time to change the leaderboard but outstanding defense by Villa Duchesne, led by junior Lauren Hagan, clogged up the midfield and prevented the Angels from finding the equalizer.
“I’m proud of our defensive unit the last five minutes,” Graft said. “(St. Joe’s) is fast and dangerous and we were really strong in stopping them in transition.”
And regardless what the scoreboard read, the winner Sunday was the entire St. Louis field hockey community and the rousing display of talent, creativity and enthusiasm that overtook Sport Port.
“It’s my favorite day,” Ponciroli said.
For a photo gallery of this event, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Field-Hockey/2025-Season/Villa-Duchesne-vs-St-Josephs-9-28-25