LADUE- MICDS freshman Justin Bishop had never unleashed a twine-piercing shot before Thursday.
After junior Henry Oliver caused a turnover, raced down the field and fed him a pass, Bishop uncorked a wicked shot that tore through the netting and sailed into the end zone of O’Hara Field.
An alert referee rightly awarded a goal, and Bishop calmly celebrated with a few helmet taps with his teammates as if his rope-ripping feat was commonplace.
“You have to flex or something,” Oliver suggested. “Especially if I give you the assist.”
The aggressive, yet composed Rams flexed their collective muscle Thursday, defeating De Smet 14-8 in a heavyweight clash between two teams that have met for the previous four Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state championships.
MICDS, which won eight consecutive state titles from 2014-22, lost to De Smet in the Class 2 championship game last season and entered Thursday’s regular season matchup with a point to prove.
*Class 2 state championship story: https://metrosportsstl.com/2023/05/27/mark-steadies-ship-helps-de-smet-dethrone-micds-for-first-state-title-in-21-years/
“We had a mission. This wasn’t our Super Bowl, but we had a job to do. We knew we had to come in here, take care of the work and finish strong,” said MICDS senior Willy Carpenter, a Washington and Lee commit.
Carpenter scored four goals, two during an opening quarter in which MICDS hit on all cylinders. Sophomore Peter O’Leary won the first two faceoffs, resulting in one-on-one dodges by sophomores Graham Faust and Ian Spakowski and a lightning-quick, 2-0 lead for the Rams 1:47 into the contest.
MICDS (5-1) scored goals on four of its first five shots, possessed the ball for 10 of the first 12 minutes, and when Carpenter found the twine in the final seconds, the Rams’ jumped out to a 6-2 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, a physical check by sophomore Ben Petersen dislodged the ball and led to a goal by sophomore Mikey Gutchewsky. A ground ball gobble by Oliver led to the first of three goals from Bishop as the lead grew to 8-3, with six different goal scores.
“They were a tougher team. They got more ground balls, they cleared better, they made less mistakes,” De Smet coach Joe Douglas said. “We just didn’t have enough execution on the game plan to really compete with them.”
The Rams built their lead without taking a penalty for the first 18 minutes of action. They were physical, but not overzealous. Intense, but not overhyped.
“Something we’ve been talking a lot about is mental toughness and composure, pouring into each other versus pouring into someone else,” MICDS coach Andy Kay said. “If we pour into each other, good things will happen.”
De Smet (3-2) scored at least 14 goals in each of its first four games with senior Tanner Culleton leading the charge. On Thursday, Oliver shaded Culleton on the defensive end and trusted his teammates to close off other avenues.
The Rams’ forced turnovers and off-target shots, and those on target were gobbled up by junior goalie Tommy Cook, as MICDS held its fifth opponent in six games under 10 goals.
“My teammates did a really good job of getting the off-ball guys locked up, so it allowed me to do more work,” said Oliver, a Boston University commit. “A lot of credit goes to (Cook). We gave up some shots inside, but anything outside of 10 (yards), there was no chance it was getting by him. He really showed out for us.”
The freshman Bishop also showed out. His string-shredding shot occurred just 28 seconds into the third quarter. He earned his hat trick two minutes later after an MICDS ride did not allow De Smet to successfully clear the ball and Bishop became the ready recipient of the final pass.
“It’s really about keeping calm and knowing that I have guys surrounding me that will back me up,” Bishop said. “It’s a team effort. Running the ball down the field, swinging it around, finding the open guy, and there it is.”
Carpenter earned his hat trick 52 seconds later to increase the lead to 11-4 and leave little doubt of the result.
For Carpenter, one of only six seniors on the MICDS roster, the loss to De Smet in the state title game last season which ended the Rams’ eight-year championship run may prove to be a blessing in disguise.
“I believe that losing last year may have been a good thing for us. I think it relieved some of the pressure that had been built through generations of seniors coming through. Now, being able to fight to earn, rather than fight to defend, really empowers our work between the lines,” said Carpenter, a captain.
The Rams split a pair of games in Tennessee early in the season before venturing to Washington D.C. over Spring Break where they defeated two strong opponents. MICDS will travel to Indianapolis on April 5-6 to face two more difficult challengers from Cincinnati.
“Something nice that this has brought to the table is the ability to chase opponents, especially after the D.C. trip where we were definitely the underdogs,” Oliver said. “We all feel like we’re working harder than we did last year. We want to work together as a unit rather than trying to play hero ball, and that is helping us improve.”
And Carpenter knows that the improvement of the young Rams is nowhere near its apex.
“It makes me really proud to see guys like Justin Bishop, a freshman, scoring three (goals) against the reigning state champion,” Carpenter said. “I’m proud of the guys for executing, but even more excited to know that we’ve got more to offer.”
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