Wildcat Lacrosse Defeats Rival Hazelwood East

SPANISH LAKE -- The girls varsity lacrosse team has started a new tradition every time it scores a goal. When the Wildcats put one in the back of their opponent’s net, one member of the team, usually senior defender Aysia Williams, will shout out “hey you guys!”, just like the lovable character Sloth did in the 80s movie “The Goonies.”

Fans of “The Goonies” will know that one of the film’s signature moments comes at the end, when Sloth’s Goonie friends shout “hey you guys!” right back at him.

It’s a moment of great fun and camaraderie for the Goonie heroes in the film, and it has now become the signature goal celebration and excitement acknowledgment for the Hazelwood West girls lacrosse team.

On April 18, the Wildcats got to do their signature yell more times than they ever had before, scoring a school-record 19 goals in a 19-4 rout against rival Hazelwood East.

“It was a fun day,” West head coach, Mike Vaughn, said. “The big thing to me, is I don’t want us to take anybody for granted. East has some good athletes, and some good speed.”

But West had more experience and better passing, and that led to an almost unlimited number of scoring chances for the Wildcats.

West was even able to make a number of long runs through the East defense that often led to scores or significant scoring chances.

“We don’t normally try to do that,” Vaughn said. “We’re normally a passing team, and we look for movement, but it was just kind of the situation of the game today that we could take runs like that.”

Sophomore attack wing Brittany Monroe made several long runs through the East defense, converting almost all of them into a career-high with six goals to lead the West offensive attack.

The six-goal barrage was the second of the season for Monroe, who also had six scores in West’s 14-11 win against Parkway North on April 8.

“I’m very pleased with how Brittany’s playing right now,” Vaughn said. “You can see she’s really starting to understand the game more and how to play.

"She’s a very intelligent player. She can pass. She can shoot," he said. "And she can play defense. She really is a triple threat out there.”

Several other players also had big days for the Wildcats.

Junior Lia Hannenburg had three goals against East, while fellow juniors Rianne Holzmeyer and Caitlyn Smith added two goals apiece, as West won its fifth straight and raised its record to 6-4 on the season.

Other Wildcat scorers on Monday were, junior Lia Hannenburg (three goals), juniors Rianne Holzmeyer and Caitlyn Smith (two goals each), and single-goal scorers seniors Andrea Sherrod, Stephanie Baker, and Kaitlin Bethel, juniors Krysta Swalley and Holly Walkup, and sophomore Sajeda Issa.

“We’ve been playing great team offense,” Vaughn said. “We’ve been passing the ball well, and we implemented a new zone defense that’s really been giving people fits.”

East’s Lillian Rodrigue had three goals, and teammate Jeronica Ellis had one also to account for the Spartans’ scores.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Thursday, April 21, when they’ll host O’Fallon (IL) High at Wildcat Field, with the opening face-off scheduled for 4:15 p.m. The junior varsity teams from both schools will play a game following that, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Vaughn also announced on Monday, the make-up dates for three West contests that had been rained out earlier this season.

The March 25 rain-out at home against Hazelwood East will be made up on Friday, April 29. The April 4 wash-out at Wentzville Holt, has been re-scheduled for Monday, April 25. And the April 11 postponed home game against Visitation Academy will now take place on Wednesday, April 27.

All three of the games will be played at their original locations, and each is scheduled for a start time of 4:15 p.m.