ST. LOUIS – The worst fears of a win-or-go-home scenario were being realized for the St. Louis University High lacrosse team.
After not playing a game for nine days, the Jr. Bills ran up against a hot goalie, began sailing shots wide of the net and scored only one goal through the first 21 minutes of action.
Then, Danny Campbell took over.
Campbell ignited the SLUH offense with four goals in a seven-minute stretch and helped propel the Jr. Bills to a 19-10 victory over Lafayette in a Class 2 Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association State Cup quarterfinal matchup Thursday at SLUH.
No. 3 SLUH (13-6), which advanced to the State Cup semifinals for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons, will face the winner of Friday’s game between MICDS and Priory at a time and location to be determined.
No. 1 De Smet (13-4) and No. 4 Chaminade (11-6) will square off in the other State Cup semifinal.
De Smet survived with a 10-9 overtime victory against Eureka. Chaminade defeated CBC 14-6.
Campbell was one of several Jr. Bills to face denials from Lafayette junior goalie Sam Classen in the early going. Classen stopped 15 shots, including three in the opening SLUH possession that also included senior Danny Karse ringing the goalpost.
When Lafayette junior Matt Reynolds strode down the right side and found a sliver of available net, the Lancers opened a 4-1 lead midway through the second quarter.
“I think we were so amped up to get out there that our heads were going a little too quick,” Karse said. “We were looking for the goal too often and we found ourselves in unlucky situations.”
But Campbell changed their luck.
He received a screen from junior Will Feise at the top of the formation and unleashed a rocket from 17 yards away to slice into the deficit. He tied the game 33 seconds later by emerging from the bench in motion, receiving a pass near the sideline and sprinting downhill to pierce the Lafayette defense.
“They were playing a zone, and I was kind of struggling to shake it at first, but we recognized they were sloughed in when I was subbing in the box,” Campbell said. “I have the speed, I have the size and I have the shot, and I just kept doing it over and over again.”
A faceoff win by senior Michael Robinson set up a similar play 21 seconds later when Vince Chappuis emerged from the bench, received a pass in stride, drew defenders and found Karse for the go-ahead goal.
“(Chappuis) had the perfect downhill dodge. Their D-pole slid to him, I popped out, he saw me and I put it in the goal,” Karse said.
After scoring once over the first 21 minutes, SLUH netted four goals in the final three minutes of the half and entered intermission with the lead and confidence.
Campbell did not slow down after halftime.
He fired a laser from 15 yards away during a delayed penalty situation. Then, after a wiggle and a shimmy, he stepped past a defender and scored again as SLUH began another flurry of four consecutive goals to open a 10-5 lead.
“We were doing what we wanted to do, but then Danny Campbell came alive and he’s hard to stop,” said Lafayette coach Ren Pettinelli, who won his 300th game earlier this season. “We ran out of gas a little bit and they kept coming. We didn’t have too many answers for them.”
The 14-goal second half by SLUH was accomplished through ground ball clean-up and transition opportunities. Karse intercepted an outlet pass from Classen and fed junior Josh Bertram, who scored his third goal.
Karse added another transition assist to junior Sean Boyd, who earned a hat trick in less than four minutes to give SLUH a 12-6 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to play with pace and pressure against their zone and our shots began to fall,” SLUH coach Andrew Toussaint said. “The rest of the game was transition for us, getting the ball off the turf, getting out in front and converting.”
While the SLUH offense was finding its rhythm, so was the defense.
Juniors Marco Sansone and Henry Unger led a defensive unit that held Lafayette scoreless for over 14 minutes and held Lafayette 69-goal scorer Baylor Adamovsky to a pair of goals, one occurring with nine seconds remaining in the game.
“He’s a great player,” Unger said. “My idea (against him) was nothing crazy, keep it simple, stay on his hands and trust my guys behind me.”
Lafayette (14-4) was led in scoring by senior Aidan Italiano, who netted four goals.
The Jr. Bills, which won their sixth consecutive game, continued an outstanding season in which they were crowned Metro Catholic Conference champs for the first time since 2018. SLUH earned an undefeated 4-0 record in the tough MCC, winning all four games by either one or two goals.
The Jr. Bills feel their play and mindset is exactly where it needs to be as they approach the final week of the season.
“We’ve been battle tested,” Campbell said. “It just comes down to who’s grittier and who’s tougher. I can’t wait.”
