LADUE – It is unclear whether the brace on the right knee of Madison Erb has speed settings.
The Eureka senior, who wears a large, hinged brace after undergoing ACL surgery as a sophomore, raced down the sideline on several occasions Thursday to clear the ball from the defensive end.
“We call it ‘turbo mode,’” senior Kylee Pickens said. “Put the brace in turbo mode.”
Erb dialed up a brilliant defensive effort, and Pickens scored twice and added two assists as Eureka outlasted a gutsy MICDS team 9-7 in a Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association girls semifinal Thursday at John Burroughs.
Eureka (15-1) advanced to the state championship game for the second consecutive season and will face the team responsible for their only loss, John Burroughs (14-3), at noon Saturday at Leland Field on the campus of John Burroughs.
MICDS (10-7) will face Cor Jesu (12-7) in the third-place game at 10 a.m.
Erb ignited a key stretch for Eureka after halftime when she extended her stick into the shot path of MICDS sophomore Caroline Koman. The blocked shot led to a transition goal by Pickens and increased the Wildcats’ lead to 6-3.
It was one of several intrusions by Erb, who denied certain MICDS goals by racing to dislodge the ball from free-position shooters.
“Honestly, it’s a real group effort. We all know when to slide, and we all communicate so well,” Erb said.
Erb, who tore her ACL and meniscus in a lacrosse game as a sophomore, did not play much as a junior with her knee still recovering.
On Thursday, the defensive captain collected three ground balls, relieved pressure with 50-yard sprints up the sideline and was a key figure in holding the Rams’ explosive, 50-goal scorer Caroline Koman to two goals.
“It’s been so great to come back and be on the field again with all my teammates,” Erb said.
With Eureka’s all-time leading scorer Bailey Boulay smothered in a face-guarding defense from MICDS junior Ella Etherington, other Wildcats stepped up to generate scoring opportunities, led by Pickens.
After her goal to open the second half, Pickens delivered a pristine pass to senior Mia Smith to build the largest lead of the game for Eureka at 7-3.
“Bailey is an amazing player and we figured we might see a faceguard on her,” Pickens said. “We prepared for it and other people stepped up tonight. I applaud Bailey for keeping her cool and getting her teammates open.”
Boulay escaped for two goals in the first half, but operated primarily as a screener throughout the game, forcing MICDS defenders to avoid both her and Etherington to stay with their marks.
The motion offense of Eureka allowed both sophomore Ruby Copeland and senior Marley Schneider to escape coverage, receive passes and deliver key second half goals.
“We talked at halftime about how every goal that’s scored isn’t just that one girl. It starts on the defensive end and it’s a team effort to get it in the back of the net,” Pickens said. “We worked really well as a team today and every player on the field did their part.”
One of those players was freshman Brooke Samuelson, who stepped in to take the draw after MICDS dominated that aspect of the game in the first half. Samuelson led the team with four ground balls and helped Eureka narrow a huge gap in time of possession.
“Draw controls in the first half weren’t going our way, so we tried something different,” Eureka coach Melissa Menchella said. “Brooke is a huge fighter. She has so much fire in her. Even if (the draw) didn’t go her way, I was still confident putting her in the middle for the 50-50 ball to fight it out.”
The fight in two-time defending champion MICDS, which lost to Eureka by 11 goals in a regular season meeting on April 11, was equally remarkable. Already with three starters lost to season-ending injuries, the Rams lost first-team All-State selection Madison Sineff to a leg injury less than seven minutes into the game.
Trailing 7-3, MICDS created its own team-generated goal when senior goalie Kendall Curry launched a pass to Etherington in the midfield, who found junior Ellie Lochhead for her second goal of the game.
Two goals by freshman Amelia Mackin sliced the deficit to 8-6 with 11 minutes 31 seconds remaining.
“I’m so proud of them,” said MICDS coach Kate Haffenreffer. “Maddie is one of our stars, and a lot of teams would have completely folded once their teammate was out, but people stepped up, did their best and played hard for 50 minutes and that’s all that we ask them to do.”
The final 10 minutes became a goalie showcase with one remarkable save following another. Curry made four saves on Pickens alone, part of a 12-save masterpiece that included several free position opportunities.
But Eureka senior Macey Rickles was equally sharp. She made a tough save on a rocket from Ava Goldson, denied a free position opportunity from Koman and then extended her right leg to reject a shot from Mackin in the closing minutes.
“When MICDS is in a position of high stress, they always put up their biggest fight and I knew it was coming. Our defense stepped up big time,” said Rickles, who made 10 saves.
And a key component of that defense was Erb, who will need to dial her knee brace to turbo-mode one more time when Eureka plays an explosive John Burroughs team on the Bombers’ home field on Saturday with a state title on the line.
It is the same field where the Wildcats suffered their only loss of the season – a 10-9 setback to John Burroughs on May 4.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a field,” Erb said. “We have a great fan base. I’m excited.”
