Ronnie Skorcz remembers when opposing players smiled if Maryville appeared on their schedule.
During the previous two seasons, the junior midfielder and Rockwood Summit High alum suffered through several games where the Saints were no match for the powerhouses of Division II women’s lacrosse.
“I’ve been dogged on for the past two years, getting 30-pieced by top-level teams,” Skorcz said.
Those dogged days are over.
Maryville (15-1, 4-1) closes out a historic regular season against Rockhurst (9-4, 3-1), at 3 p.m. Friday at Maryville Athletic Complex before beginning postseason play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament April 28 on the campus of the University of Indianapolis.
The Saints enter the final week of the regular season ranked No. 12 in Division II in the latest Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) rankings released Monday.
Players from St. Louis-area high schools have played a major role in the resurgence of the Saints, starting in the draw circle.
With Skorcz taking the draw, and speedsters Helen Bae (Pattonville) and Sydney Tiemann (Eureka) ready to retrieve it, Maryville has made draw controls a major strength of the team.
“I’m just the one who starts it, they’re the ones who finish it,” Skorcz said. “They see where the ball is in my stick and they know where it’s going to go. I can do my best to box out my girl, but the rest is in their hands.”
Skorcz, Bae and Tiemann have helped the Saints secure at least 12 draws in every game this season, spurring an explosive offense that has scored at least 17 goals in every game except three.
That offense is led by Tiemann, who became the third player in Division II history to reach the 100-goal mark in a season April 16 against Quincy.
Tiemann, a senior who transferred from McKendree to join coach Melissa Gyllenborg at Maryville, broke a program record with 11 goals in a 25-15 victory against conference foe Missouri Western on April 14.
“We work for each other really well,” Tiemann said. “We like to share the ball and show that anyone is a threat at any point on the field.”
Midfielders Olivia Sardina (Wentzville) and Courtney Joersz (Lafayette) have started all 16 games for the Saints. Along with freshman Dorothy Fife (Lindbergh), who has started 12 games, the trio has helped Maryville allow eight or fewer goals in 10 games.
“It starts on defense. If they get a turnover, we have to do our job to put it in the back of the net,” Tiemann said.
Other St. Louis-area players that have helped Maryville reach unprecedented heights include Tia Sansone (Whitfield), Lauren Dawson (Nerinx Hall), Libbey Pacanowski (Northwest-Cedar Hill), Chloe Kerwin (Pattonville), Lexi Taylor (Pattonville), Claire Martin (Eureka) and Haley Frigerio (Summit).
Maryville set a program record by winning its first 13 games of the season and garnered a No. 19 national ranking before a colossal showdown with defending Div. II national champion University of Indianapolis on April 8.
The Saints led 13-10 late in the third quarter but could not prevent the Greyhounds from making crucial plays late in the game as Maryville lost a heartbreaker 15-14 for their first setback of the season.
“When you’re going 13-0, you always have that fear of, ‘When is it going to be?’ and I think it had to happen at some point. You can’t be perfect,” Skorcz said. “Now we got it over with, we’ll learn from it and we’ll see what we can do from here.”
For Gyllenborg, the narrow loss to Indy showed that the Saints have the talent to challenge the top Division II teams in the postseason.
“(Indy) has a lot of experience and leadership, especially coming back from a national championship team, and they definitely know what to do to get the job done, but It was great to see that our girls are just as capable and have that as well.”
The narrow loss to Indianapolis also impressed the IWLCA, which bumped the Saints up five spots in the national rankings to No. 14 after the loss.
Bae identified the ingredient that has made Maryville a nationally-ranked power this season.
“We just have so much confidence in ourselves. We work for each other and everything we do is as a team,” Bae said.
The performance against Indianapolis also earned the respect of their highly-accomplished opponents.
“(Maryville) this year compared to last year is insane,” Indy attacker Joey Fowler said. “I’m sure they put in a lot of hard work to get to where they are. All respect to them.”
Indy goalie Audrey Moran added, “They really want it, and that’s something that’s so new to that team. (Gyllenborg) really has turned this program around.”
The beauty of the turnaround for Skorcz is that many of the players experiencing unparalleled success also experienced blowout losses to the same opponents in the previous two seasons.
“We’re still the bulk of the team. We only have two or three impact, new players. The talent was always there, we just finally got the pieces put together,” Skorcz said.
Tiemann has another season of eligibility remaining as a result of the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA women’s lacrosse season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the rapid development of the Saints’ freshmen and the increased confidence in players from last season, Skorcz believes Maryville will occupy a place among the best teams in Division II for many seasons to come.
“I know in the past, Maryville was an easy win for a lot of high-level teams, but with the new coaching staff and a couple new players, we’re a force to be reckoned with,” Skorcz said.
She added, “Maryville will be in the books for the coming future, for sure.”