MCC Champs has a good ring to it. 

For the first time since 2018, the St. Louis U. High Lacrosse team (12-6) ends the season undefeated in conference play and are MCC Champions, after beating a red-hot Chaminade team 11-9. SLUH followed that up with dominant wins over Shawnee Mission East and then Webster on Senior Night. SLUH now heads into playoffs on a four-game win streak and will look to make noise as a dark horse state contender. 

Chaminade (10-5-1), led by senior attackmen Johnny Schlattman and Emmitt Rossiter, came onto Oakland Ave. feeling confident after coming off a dominating 15-goal win against Eureka. That momentum continued in the first quarter as the Red Devils knocked in three goals early, all in transition. 

While Chaminade has one of the best offenses in the state, for the most part, their defense leaves a lot to be desired. So once SLUH’s offense got a chance to work, the game took a complete 180. Senior Danny Campbell got on the board first after running past their LSM and finishing at the doorstep. Then, senior Walter Hurley, in his first game back since his concussion against De Smet, had a nifty dodge from X and scored. SLUH was down 3-2 after one quarter. 

“My goal was to be back for the Chaminade game, and that early goal showed I hadn’t missed a step and I was still able to help the team out,” said Hurley. 

Campbell equalized the game at three immediately after dodging down the alley and again finishing right on the crease. Campbell drew a penalty after a late hit on the goal, which set SLUH up for their first lead of the day as senior Danny Carse scored on man-up. Campbell completed his hat-trick with a minute left in the second, scoring on the run in the middle of the field from 15 yards out. On the next Chaminade possession, junior LSM Nate Boyer caused an errant Red Devil pass, SLUH went out in transition and junior Tate Townsend found junior Sean Boyd on the crease for an easy flush. SLUH went into half up 6-3.

But Chaminade did not give up without a fight. Three consecutive goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter evened the game, and SLUH’s breathing room had evaporated. Moreover, two third quarter goals by junior Will Feise gave SLUH a lead that faded away after Chaminade’s Rossiter scored two as well. The Red Devils fought back and it was knotted at 8 heading into the final quarter. 

After some back and forth and two big saves from senior goalie Ian Erker, junior Tim Browdy gave SLUH the lead on an alley dodge; however, not without a cost. Browdy was laid out while shooting and sustained a jaw injury that sidelined him for two games. 

SLUH extended the lead to two after a Chaminade penalty. Junior Josh Bertram found Hurley wide open on the crease for the easy flush. Chaminade scored right after, but it was too little too late. 

  The game was sealed with a massive hit on a Chaminade attackmen from junior Marco Sansone on a fast break that forced a turnover. The ball ended up back in the hands of the offense, Campbell put in his fourth goal of the day for good measure, and SLUH snuck out with an 11-9 victory, beating Chaminade for the first time since 2019.

“Beating Chaminade was a clear showing that our strength of schedule is paying off,” said Campbell. “It was the perfect momentum booster going into the playoffs.”

While the offense played great, a lot of credit needs to be given to the SLUH defense, who had one of their best showings of the season, holding Chaminade to their second lowest scoring performance of the season. Chaminade only had 16 shot attempts, SLUH put up a 76 percent success rate on clears, and Schlattman, who normally is the focal point of the Red Devils offense, couldn’t seem to get anything going with junior Henry Unger all over him.  

“Our matchups aligned really well so that their players who usually score the most couldn’t do much,” said Sansone. “We were more determined to win all game long and it helped that our offense was firing on all cylinders.”

The next day, an exhausted Jr. Bills squad faced off against Shawnee Mission East (13-2) who traveled in from Kansas City. Shawnee Mission East had beaten Eureka by 14 the night before, so both teams were coming with momentum. In SLUH’s last matchup with the Lancers in 2018, Shawnee Mission came out with an 11-6 victory.  This time around, Shawnee Mission is led by Air Force commit Jack Hamilton, and SLUH really did not know what to expect with the rest of the roster. 

Doubt was eased immediately after a faceoff win by senior Michael Robinson which led to a step-down goal by Feise within 18 seconds. Shawnee Mission looked sluggish and the Jr. Bills took advantage. Junior Hunter Toebe scored his second career varsity goal on a fast break, and Campbell, Bertram and Boyd also got on the board. Shawnee Mission scored twice, but SLUH controlled the first quarter and held a 5-2 lead after one. 

With the 90 degree temperatures coinciding with the fact that it was an out-of-state game, the SLUH coaching staff made use of the entire roster, and with the opportunity, sophomore Teddy Wagner scored his first goal of his varsity career. Then, while Shawnee Mission's goalie was out of the net, Townsend scored his second goal of the season. Kelly, Bertram, and Campbell each added another goal and it was all but over going into half as SLUH held a 10-4 lead. 

As the second half began, it was clear that Shawnee Mission was ready to head back to Kansas City as SLUH scored six straight with goals coming from Bertram, Carse, Campbell, Toebe, and twice from Hurley. SLUH went on to win 16-6 and sent the Lancers back on a long bus ride home. 

“We are battle tested,” said Campbell. “No other team in the area has played the schedule we have and that’s gonna matter come playoff time.”

Then came Senior Night against a Webster team (2-11) who have struggled all season with an entirely new coaching staff from last season. And all eight seniors made sure no Statesmen miracles were going to spoil their night. Robinson had a 100 percent faceoff win-rate on the night, which made sure the offense had plenty of opportunities. Campbell, Carse, and Hurley combined for eight goals and seven assists. Senior Daniel Tice had five ground balls, seniors Ian Mannion and Grant McCormick each had multiple caused turnovers, and Erker only gave up one goal. 

SLUH left Senior Night with an 18-2 rout, their largest margin of victory this season. The rest of the goals came from Bertram (3), Kelly (2), Feise (2), Boyd, Wagner, and junior Tyler Glass. 

SLUH now enters the playoffs as the No. 3 seed, only behind De Smet and MICDS. The Jr. Bills will not know their next opponent until the official playoff bracket comes out Friday. But for this team, they don’t care who it is. They just want to fight.

“We are red hot,” said Campbell. “We’re undefeated in the MCC and I don’t care who we have to face, I'm just ready to win.”