CREVE COEUR – Faceoffs are normally taken by short stick midfielders with exceptional body control and quick hands.
But clinging to a one-goal lead and with minimal faceoff success, De Smet sent out its “last resort” to take a crucial faceoff, midfielder Gabe Rodriguez with his long pole.
“We just weren’t getting the job done, so we asked Gabe to step up,” De Smet coach Tim Hessel said.
Rodriguez cleanly scooped the ball, extended it far from his body and scored seven seconds later to provide the game-altering goal that powered De Smet to a 10-8 victory over CBC in the regular season finale for both teams.
De Smet (8-8), which won its fourth consecutive game, clinched the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state tournament, which begins next week.
“We’ve been waiting for a game where we felt like the whole team was clicking, and no better time to have it than going straight into the playoffs,” Rodriguez said.
The top 12 ranked teams will play for the Class 2 championship and teams ranked 13-24 will play for the Class 1 championship.
CBC (9-5), which snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Spartans last season on its way to a state runner-up finish, will be the No. 5 seed in the Class 2 tournament and face the No. 12 seed in the opening round.
“We had a tough day, but it’s a really good lesson learned. When we don’t play to the standard that we set, we don’t win,” CBC coach Mike Liebreich said. “Now, we’re the five-seed. We have to win one (playoff) game, and then we’re right back on this field to do it again – and do it differently.”
CBC surrendered four consecutive goals and trailed 7-4 before unleashing its offensive firepower late in the third quarter. A man-up goal by senior Carson Kaburick was followed 27 seconds later by a wraparound goal by senior Phil Jakubowski, and the deficit was quickly trimmed to 7-6.
That is when Rodriguez, who had only taken 13 faceoffs all season, carried his long pole to the center of the field.
“My sophomore year, my coach discovered that I could take a faceoff with a pole, so he threw me out there,” Rodriguez recalled. “Ever since, I’ve kind of been like that last resort when we need one, and in that moment, we needed one.”
Rodriguez cleanly scooped the ball, raced towards the goal and fired a laser into the twine seven seconds after he obtained possession.
“You could feel the energy after that goal,” Rodriguez said. “The mindset of the team shifted to, ‘We are going to finish this game. Let’s go get it.’”
Hessel added, “We asked Gabe to step up and he sure did. That goal was a game changer.”
In the fourth quarter, another player stepped up his game to help the Spartans finish the job.
Junior Jackson Torbeck, who had scored only six goals during the season, found the hot hand. Late in the third quarter, he took a 15-yard run and fired a right-handed dart into the net. He delivered a rocket during a man-up situation early in the fourth quarter, then completed his first career hat trick pinballing between defenders to give De Smet a 10-7 lead with 3:01 remaining.
Torbeck, who absorbed a slash to his right leg that produced a noticeable limp during the first half, willingly placed himself among ill-intentioned CBC defenders throughout the fourth quarter to deliver goals in traffic.
“I just wanted to leave it all out on the field,” Torbeck said.
And the De Smet defense, led by senior Nic Parrish, put on a display of courage as well. Parrish often absorbed hacks and body blows as he carried the ball into the offensive end. He delivered a pair of first half assists and set a tone for playing with measured physicality.
“Our word of the week was ‘poise,’” Hessel said. “It’s been our focus – playing calm under pressure. Take the chaos, feel the emotions, play fast, but stay under control.”
Five of the Spartans eight losses have come against teams from out-of-state. In an 12-4 loss to Chaminade on April 9, De Smet was careless with the ball and took undisciplined penalties. The exact opposite occurred Wednesday.
“We graduated a lot of guys last year, so we knew it would take a little time to reach the level of the teams we were going to play,” Parrish said. “As the year progressed, we learned to play with poise and to work through the adversity we face, and tonight was a huge step forward for that.”
De Smet, which started the season with a 4-8 record with five losses by a one or two goal margin, will take a four-game winning streak into the quarterfinals of the Class 2 playoffs.
“The first-round bye is huge for us. It gives us a lot of time to rest and recover,” Hessel said.
Rodriguez added, “This win felt like a large, deep breath out – the feeling of knowing that we have what we need right here, and it’s time to get going.”
For a photo gallery from this game visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/2024-Boys-Lacrosse/Boys-Lacrosse-2026/CBC-at-De-Smet-5-6-26