EUREKA – Maryville University senior Sydney Tiemann set the all-time Division II record for goals in a season. Lindenwood Hall-of-Famer Melissa Menchella had a bobblehead day in her honor.
Both are now looking up at junior Bailey Boulay in the Eureka record books.
Boulay scored three goals and added three assists Wednesday, thus becoming the all-time leading scorer in Eureka girls lacrosse history and powering the Wildcats to a 13-3 victory over Summit in a rematch of a state semifinal from last season.
Boulay surpassed Tiemann for career assists with an 11-point performance against Parkway West on May 3. She eclipsed Eureka head coach Menchella for career points with a free-position goal to open the scoring Wednesday.
“That’s really good company to be in,” Summit coach David Gibson said.
After Boulay’s goal, the game was stopped, an announcement was made and Menchella gave Boulay a hug on the sideline. It was one of several sideline meetings between the two as Boulay soaked up as much knowledge as possible from her mentor throughout the game.
“Bailey is just so coachable, that’s her in a word,” Menchella said. “We tell her to do something once and she does it.”
For Boulay, the ability to be coached by such an accomplished player has been a major factor in her development.
“She is obviously a very skilled player herself, so it’s nice to have someone who is so great at the sport teaching us,” Boulay said. “She is always expecting more from us, holding us accountable and making us better every day.”
Gibson devised a plan to slow down Boulay, and for a while, the plan thwarted a Eureka offense that was missing two attackers due to injuries suffered the previous day in the Wildcats’ 10-5 victory against Francis Howell.
But despite being closely guarded without the ball and facing double teams with the ball, Boulay scored two goals and added two assists as the Wildcats built a 5-1 lead after the opening 16 minutes.
“She is a phenomenal player. She can have a player right on her hip and still use her height and stick handling control to make a good pass,” Gibson said. “Early on, we had some success and her teammates worked really hard to get her open again.”
Summit (6-7) used that early success on defense to allow its offense to generate scoring chances, but strong play by Eureka and the clanging of four posts in the first 15 minutes prevented Summit from applying scoreboard pressure on the Wildcats.
Eureka (12-1) was guided on defense by senior captain Mia Smith, who communicated instructions and helped limit a talented Summit offense to two goals through the first 48 minutes.
“That was some of the best defense we’ve played this season,” Smith said. “It was hard because we lost attackers (to injury on Tuesday) and I think it shook us in the head a little bit, but we had team talks, and being able to come together and see where our heads were at helped us both offensively and defensively.”
Senior Kaylee Gross and junior Kylee Pickens contributed three goals apiece, and the inspired play of new starting attackers Claire Rickles and Emily Henderson added an emotional boost.
Henderson scored two goals, one as a direct result of a pinpoint assist from Rickles in transition.
“Claire and Emily stepped up in the two attacker’s spots who couldn’t play and filled a big role. They played fast, they played hard and they really embraced the opportunity,” Menchella said.
Rickles took home the gold “GOAT” necklace, given to the Eureka player-of-the-game.
And Boulay now wears the crown, eclipsing both Menchella and Tiemann atop the Eureka record book.
Menchella participated in track-and-field as a freshman at Eureka and often watched lacrosse players at practice while waiting for her parents to pick her up.
“They looked like they were having so much fun,” Menchella said.
She picked up a lacrosse stick in 2009 and played on the junior varsity team as a sophomore. She scored 60 goals as a junior and led Eureka to a third-place finish as a senior with 96 goals and 20 assists before embarking on a hall-of-fame college career at Lindenwood.
“It was the best decision I ever made. It turned into a whole lot more than fun, it became my life,” Menchella said.
Tiemann, a 2019 graduate, departed Eureka as the career-leader in assists. This spring, she set the Division II single-season, goal-scoring record with her 106th goal, helping Maryville qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
“Sydney Tiemann is the queen of Division II lacrosse right now,” Menchella said.
Boulay led the state runner-up Wildcats in scoring as a sophomore and entered the game Wednesday tied with Menchella with 186 career points.
“It was kind of a joke that maybe she’d have to throw me on defense,” Boulay said. “But she’s just as happy as I am.”
Menchella added, “I hope Bailey realizes what she did today. To take me out, to take Sydney Tiemann out, that’s a huge accomplishment. I’m so proud of her.”
