MARYLAND HEIGHTS – The St. Joseph’s field hockey team had every reason to have a subpar season.
After plans to install a new, water turf field on campus did not materialize, the Angels were left with no field on campus to practice or play games. Instead, they piled into cars and traveled 13 miles to Sport Port in Maryland Heights for practices and played most of their home games on their opponent’s field.
“We’ve had a lot stacked against us, with the field, with having a really young team, with things not going according to plan, but we were determined to stick to our mission and go far,” senior captain KK Dooley said.
St. Joseph’s is still going.
Dooley and junior Mia Ryan scored two minutes apart early in the third quarter and a smothering Angels’ defense did the rest in a 2-1 victory over Ladue in a Missouri State Field Hockey Tournament quarterfinal thriller Tuesday at Sport Port.
No. 4 seed St. Joseph’s (15-2), which reached the final four for the fourth consecutive season, will face No. 1 seed MICDS (20-3) in a state semifinal at 4 p.m. Thursday at Sport Port.
No. 2 John Burroughs and No. 3 Villa Duchesne will square off in a rematch of last year’s state title game at 5:30 p.m. in the second semifinal.
Despite playing at their practice field at Sport Port, the Angels experienced another road game atmosphere due to a vibrant Ladue student section, including the Rams’ defending Class 3 state champion boys soccer team.
The energy and enthusiasm propelled Ladue to a blistering first five minutes in which they applied immense pressure and earned an early penalty corner.
“Our soccer team was making some noise for us,” Ladue coach Leah Jones said. “That was fun.”
St. Joseph’s weathered the early storm and then tilted the field in its favor in the second quarter. Dooley and senior Lyla Kaminski stopped Ladue rushes in the midfield and quickly turned defense to offense. A rocket from senior Maddie Croghan off a penalty corner required a quick, right pad save from Ladue goalie Mimi Tabscott.
Although the halftime scoreboard still read 0-0, the Angels entered intermission with a feeling that a goal was coming.
“We were generating a lot in the attack in the second quarter and we had momentum going into the second half,” Dooley said. “We felt like if we could get one, another would follow.”
St. Joseph’s earned a penalty corner in the first minute of the third quarter and Dooley broke the ice. She ripped a shot goalward that avoided a slew of bodies and found its way past Tabscott to give the Angels’ a 1-0 lead.
A penalty assessed to St. Joseph’s senior defender Bella Greco did not slow the momentum. Croghan moved from her midfield position to the defensive backfield to replace Greco and used her offensive instincts to keep the foot on the pedal.
Long hits by Croghan out of the defensive zone sent the speedy Angels into the open field for transition opportunities. A 40-yard blast by Croghan was accepted by Mia Ryan, who snuck a shot underneath Tabscott for a two-goal St. Joseph’s lead.
“When Bella got a card, I thought I’d help out and move to the back,” Croghan said. “What was working was sending it down the field and letting our forwards step in front of (the defenders). That’s something we’ve been working on all year, and it really worked out for us.”
Ryan, who scored the overtime, game-winning goal against Ladue in a 3-2 quarterfinal classic last October and scored the game-winner in a 2-1 thriller at Ladue earlier this season, continued to be a thorn in the side of the Rams.
Ladue-St. Joseph’s Overtime Quarterfinal story https://metrosportsstl.com/2024/10/29/time-stands-still-as-st-josephs-survives-ladue-with-late-game-magic-in-riveting-state-quarterfinal/
St. Joseph’s 2, Ladue 1: Regular Season story from Sept. 2025: https://metrosportsstl.com/2025/09/13/mia-ryan-again-plays-heartbreaker-as-st-josephs-outlasts-ladue-in-latest-chapter-of-new-rivalry/
The two-goal blitz in a 2:01 span prompted a timeout from Jones, and the Rams tried to regroup.
“When you get to this point of the season and in these high-level games, it’s about how you respond to mistakes,” Jones said. “I told them, ‘I believe in you. We’re the number five seed for a reason. It has to be about how we respond, what we do next.’”
What Ladue did next was momentum-changing.
Vicky Derdoy, who leads the St. Louis area with 33 goals, used a burst of speed to earn a penalty corner. She accepted the insert, weaved through traffic and smacked a shot off the left pad of St. Joseph’s goalie Mary Malloy. The rebound was retrieved by Ladue senior Molly Salvatori, who snuck it past Malloy to close the deficit to 2-1.
A wild, intense fourth quarter ensued. It included a brilliant defensive save from Ladue defender Melia Saffold and required courageous defensive effort from Dooley, Croghan and Greco to prevent Ladue from accessing the circle. A Superman dive by sophomore Lydia Laughlin maintained possession for St. Joseph’s in the final minute and sealed a third consecutive, one-goal victory over Ladue.
“Ladue is great competition. We had to fight until the end,” Dooley said.
St. Joseph’s, which has six sophomores and two freshmen on the roster, will continue their remarkable season Thursday against MICDS. The Angels have defeated MICDS six consecutive times, including a 2-1 win at the Gateway Classic in August and a 1-0 victory at MICDS in September, in what was technically considered a home game for St. Joseph’s.
“Even if we never have home field advantage, we’re still going to work hard and be ready to play, no matter where we play,” senior captain Lylah Kaminski said after the win at MICDS.
Croghan added, “With everything that’s gone wrong, we’ve just stayed positive, focused on each other and had fun with it.”
For a photo gallery from this game, click this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Field-Hockey/2025-Season/St-Josephs-vs-Ladue-10-28-25