MARYLAND HEIGHTS- MICDS sophomore Victoria Noble is among the top goal scorers in the St. Louis area once again, after finishing fourth in that category as a freshman.
She carries herself with such humility, however, that her prolific production sometimes goes unnoticed.
“She’s very calm and unassuming, and then you look at the stat sheet and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK. That just happened,’” MICDS coach Lynn Mittler said.
That was not the case on Tuesday.
Noble scored a loud, career-high, four goals and powered MICDS to a 5-2 victory over Ursuline in a Missouri State Field Hockey Tournament quarterfinal Tuesday at Sport Port International.
MICDS (20-3), the No. 1 overall seed, will face No. 4 St. Joseph’s (16-2) in a state semifinal at 4 p.m. Thursday at Sport Port.
No. 2 John Burroughs (22-1) and No. 3 Villa Duchesne (16-4-2) will square off in a rematch of last season’s state title match at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the second semifinal.
Noble began her onslaught of the Ursuline cage late in the first quarter when sophomore Lydia Brown slid a pass across the circle for Noble to punish into the backboard. It was Brown’s 18th assist of the season, many of which have been delivered to Noble.
“The way she and Lydia play together is spectacular,” Mittler said.
Ursuline (11-6), playing in its fourth consecutive quarterfinal, possessed the ball as much as MICDS early in the game and were rightly rewarded. A beautiful give-and-go passing play that went from Kara Eakle to Lexi Nichol and back to Eakle tied the score at 1-1 midway through the second quarter.
The stunning goal could have shaken the top-seeded Rams. Instead, it stirred them up.
“And soon as (Ursuline) scored that nice, tying goal, it shifted my mind,” Noble said. “Our energy enhanced.”
The Rams earned a penalty corner late in the half, and within a mosh pit of sticks and feet, Noble found the loose ball and tucked it into the cage to give MICDS a one-goal lead at halftime.
MICDS converted another penalty corner early in the third quarter when a laser from Mallory Jerlecki was redirected into the cage by Noble for the eighth hat trick of her career.
“I have the best teammates supporting me. The midfielders do such a great job distributing. I like to think that if I’m in the right place at the right time, I just have to finish,” Noble said.
Jerlecki repeated her feat during another penalty corner, slapping a pass that inserter Mia Pacifico deflected into the cage for a 4-1 MICDS lead, but Ursuline was not ready to go away. In the final minute, Nichol converted a rebound to cut the deficit to 4-2 after three quarters.
“Ursuline played a fantastic game,” Mittler said. “They are huge competitors. I watched them (last Saturday) and there’s no die in them. We knew we were going to have to put in our best effort to get past them.”
Noble, who scored 28 goals last season, had not scored four times in a game until she pulverized a pass from Ellemieke Ferguson into the cage early in the fourth quarter. It provided the exclamation point on a strong Rams second half that included multiple penalty corner opportunities.
“We worked really well off of each other today. We kept repeating, ‘Work for each other and with each other’ and that was executed,” Noble said.
Noble now has 32 goals for the season, currently tied for second in the St. Louis region with Villa Duchesne sophomore Hannah Ponciroli. Ladue senior Victoria Derdoy leads the area with 33 goals.
“She’s driven and she’s team focused.” Mittler said of Noble. “She’s not doing this for her own sake, she’s doing this because it’s her job on the team and she wants to do it for the team. I’m so impressed with how she’s doing it.”
It has been an impressive run for all the top-seeded Rams, who returned to the final four last season after a two-year absence. In September, MICDS defeated Villa Duchesne for the first time since 2019 and John Burroughs for the first time since 2021.
“To beat those teams has been a goal of mine since I watched my older sisters play, and thanks to the dedication of this team, we’ve been able to do that,” senior captain Georgia Lochhead said.
There is still one team Lochhead and the MICDS seniors have not beaten in their careers – their semifinal opponent St. Joseph’s, who have defeated the Rams six consecutive times, including twice this season.
“The seniors have been through some tough years, and now they’re a part of a second semifinal in a row and it’s exciting to be back,” Mittler said. “We’ll see what we can put together for Thursday.”
For a photo gallery from this game, click here: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Field-Hockey/2025-Season/MICDS-vs-Ursuline-10-28-25