MO BOYS: St. Louis University Jesuit Wins 1st Missouri State Title

By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

Senior middie Robbie Fonke scored the game-winning goal with 1:18 remaining in overtime to give St. Louis University Jesuit High School an 11-10 upset victory over Rockhurst Jesuit in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association Division I state championship game Saturday afternoon at the Anheuser Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo.

Fonke took a pass from senior middie David Hayashi, dodged and fired a low shot from 10 yards to lift the Junior Bills (19-3) to their first state title in school history. SLUH erased a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

“The guys on this team are just warriors,” SLUH head coach Ron Kelam said. “They battled the entire game, just like they’ve done all year long.”

DIVISION II: PEMBROKE HILL RALLIES PAST EUREKA

The victory prevented a Kansas City sweep of Saturday’s championship games after Pembroke Hill rallied from a three-goal, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Eureka, 6-5, in the Division II title game. But in the second game of the doubleheader, it was the St. Louis-based team that came back in the final 12 minutes.

Rockhurst Jesuit, which trounced SLUH by nine goals in the 2008 state championship game, led 9-6 after junior middie Colin McKay scored with 9:16 remaining in regulation. But the Junior Bills answered with three straight goals and drew level when Hof scored his third of the day with 4:22 to play.

The Hawklets (18-7) took the lead again at 10-9 when senior middie David Herring scored just 11 seconds after Hof’s equalizer. But Hof once again brought SLUH back when he scored his game-high fourth goal with 1:21 remaining.

That forced overtime, giving Fonke an opportunity to score his only goal of the game.

“I think it’s absolutely huge,” said Kelam, a second-year head coach who has led SLUH to the title game both years.

“We had an enormous crowd here today, and people are starting to recognize our program. We had 17 guys on this team that took the loss last year, and they didn’t want to be the guys who lost to Rockhurst twice in a row.”

Senior middie Andrew Howe added three goals, senior attackman R.J. Half had three points on two goals and an assist, Fonke finished with two points on a goal and an assist and junior defenseman Sean Meagher scored once for SLUH.

Defensively, senior goalie Chris Saville saved 17 shots.

In defeat, senior attackman Brendan Surface finished with a team-high four points on a goal and three assists, senior attackman William Tilson scored three goals and senior middie David Herring added three goals for Rockhurst Jesuit.

The game was tied, 2-2, at the end of the first quarter, Rockhurst Jesuit led 6-4 at halftime and the Hawklets had an 8-6 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“There were tons of missed opportunities on our part,” Rockhurst Jesuit head coach Jay Coleman said. “We just weren’t finishing. But they played a great game. They didn’t quit. We didn’t quit either, they just won the game.”