Since 2022, the Eureka High School soccer team has played CBC five times. Each one of those games was decided by one goal.
In 2022-2023, the Wildcats won a pair of 1-0 games. Last year, the 10-time state champion Cadets beat Eureka twice by the same 2-1 score, including in overtime in the Class 4 District 2 playoffs. The two nonconference combatants – Eureka is in the Suburban Conference and CBC is in the Metro Catholic – seem to bring out the best in each other, even this year with Eureka struggling mightily to find an offensive solution.
It was no different Monday night in Eureka where the Wildcats, who have a record of 3-13, had scored two goals in the previous five games, all losses. After a scoreless first half, Eureka’s offense started to put some pressure on CBC junior goalie Stone DeGreeff. Wildcat senior midfielder Lucas Silva finished a nice run with a header off the side of the net.
“That was probably our best look,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said. “We had a couple of set pieces where the ball bounced inside the six. They got the toe poke for a goal and we didn’t.”
Senior midfielder Ethan Norkaitis scored the game’s only goal in the 71st minute and the Cadets (11-6-1) held on for the 1-0 shutout.
“Off of a throw-in, Stevie Jones took a guy on and made a nice move, their goalie (senior Landon Flaherty) made an initial first save, the ball came back out and Ethan was in the right place at the right time,” said first-year CBC head coach Randy Roy.
Roy was an assistant coach at CBC before taking over, so he’s accustomed to tight games against the Wildcats.
“They always play us tough,” he said. “They’re always well organized. They do a nice job of executing their game plan and that gives us fits. They had a spell where they could have put one on us and it could have been a different game.”
For the most part, the Wildcats followed their game plan.
“We understand that we have to play smart against them,” Hanna said. “We know what they put on the field. When we play smart, that puts us in a good spot. We’ve been able to keep it tight with teams. Right now, the breaks aren’t going our way and we’ve got to keep fighting.”
In the game before CBC, Eureka fell 2-1 to Marquette High (6-9) on Oct. 9 in a Yellow pool game. The Wildcats are 1-3 in pool play. On Oct. 7, visiting Webster Groves High (5-11, 2-3) shut out Eureka 1-0. On Oct. 3-4, the Wildcats traveled to Pembroke Hill and lost 2-1 before the western road trip took them to Overland Park, Kan. and a 1-0 defeat to Blue Valley West.
“There’s no magic bullet,” Hanna said about breaking out of his team’s offensive woes. “We got chances today. Once the ball finds the back of the net, that becomes contagious.”
District seedings weren’t available as of the Leader deadline, and Eureka is back in District 2. Kirkwood High (7-3), Ladue High (15-3), Lafayette High (9-6), the Mustangs, host Parkway South High (9-3), Parkway West High (15-1) and St. Louis University High (15-2-2) are the other teams in District 2. The Lancers beat the Wildcats 3-2 on PKs Sept. 16.
“We’ll likely get SLUH or Ladue or Parkway West. Ladue was an OT loss,” said Hanna about potential first-round opponents. “We know we can play with teams. We just need that belief that we can win these games. We took a step forward tonight even though it didn’t show it on the scoreboard.”
Eureka football beats Summit, falls to Lafayette
Senior quarterback Brady Micek and undefeated Lafayette High School traveled south on Hwy. 109 to Eureka High on Oct. 10 looking to put a stranglehold on the Suburban Conference (Yellow pool) title race.
Mission accomplished.
Micek ran for three touchdowns and threw for a pair of scores, the Lancer defense controlled the line of scrimmage, the special teams blocked a field goal and Lafayette rolled to a 35-6 victory. The win was the Lancers’ seventh straight overall and fourth straight in pool play.
Knocking off the Wildcats for the second time in three seasons was a huge lift for Lafayette, which had just one quality win over Kirkwood (35-28) in week three.
“We just knew we had to come out firing and that was the plan all week,” Micek said. “(Head coach Curt Mueller) knew how big the rivalry was and he wanted it just as bad as we did.”
The Lancers struck quickly on their first possession as Micek scored on an 8-yard bootleg run, giving the Lancers a 7-0 lead just 3:06 into the game.
Eureka (5-2, 2-2) had a chance to cut into the lead early in the second quarter, but kicker Patrick Bradley’s 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Lafayette’s Terrance Bills.
“We needed a play in that situation and he’s been battling injuries, but he said he was going to strap it up today,” Mueller said.
The Wildcats scored their only TD on a 1-yard Curtis Harris run, but Bradley’s extra point was wide left, making it 7-6.
Micek responded on the next drive, scoring on a 2-yard run to make it 14-6 at the half.
On its first drive of the third quarter, Lafayette got its spread passing attack going as Micek hooked up with Bills on a 61-yard pass over the middle for a touchdown, extending the lead to 21-6. Bills led the Lancers in receiving with 4 catches for 96 yards.
Seeing the passing game settle in and click was a welcome sight for Mueller.
“We spread the ball out and our offense was a lot better in the second half,” Mueller said. “For us, it was just executing.”
Micek added a 5-yard scoring run to close out the third quarter and push the lead to 28-6.
An 11-yard aerial from Micek to Zachary Tobin wrapped up the scoring with 5 minutes left in the game. Micek rushed for 80 yards on 15 carries, and passed for 241 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
While Lafayette enjoyed another lopsided win, it was a frustrating night full of untimely mistakes and turnovers for Eureka.
“And when games are tight and they’re going to be tough competitors and you can’t have those moments, but we’ll watch film and get those things cleaned up,” Eureka head coach Jake Sumner said. “I’m proud of our kids’ effort, and the boys will come back and fight hard.”
Brandon Webb led the Eureka ground game with 82 yards on 19 carries. Wildcats quarterback Patrick Hutchcraft completed 9-of-16 passes for 162 yards with 2 interceptions and 14 yards rushing.
The Wildcats are at McCluer High (1-6) on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff, then wrap up the regular season at home against surging Pattonville High (4-3), which has won its last two games and scored 83 points.
Eureka scores 28-7 victory over Rockwood Summit
A week after falling short by just three points against Kirkwood High School, Eureka High School scored a bounce-back, 28-7 win Oct. 3 at Rockwood Summit.
The Wildcats had a pair of timely interceptions, including Eli Fieser’s pick-6 TD return, and TD runs by Curtis Harris, Blake Sitton, and Brandon Webb.
“That was a tough game last week and I’m just proud of our guys,” Eureka coach Jake Sumner said. “Gritty win. Finding something down deep here in the third and fourth quarters to pull away at the end says a lot about the character of this group and the team they are.”
The win was the fifth in six games for Eureka (2-1 in Suburban Conference Yellow Pool play).
Both teams stalled on their opening drives, but Eureka got a big lift from its defense late in the first quarter as Fieser picked off Summit quarterback Chase Barringer’s pass and returned it 45 yards for a score, giving Eureka a 7-0 lead with 1:14 left in the opening quarter.
Summit (5-1, 2-0 in Suburban Conference Red Pool play) answered late in the second quarter on a 5-yard off-tackle touchdown run by Kindall Young, making it 7-7 at the intermission.
In the third quarter, the Wildcats’ defense came up with a game-changing play to flip the momentum.
Eureka’s Michael Millaway grabbed a sideline interception while falling out of bounds. The pick was Millaway’s first of the season and quickly got the Wildcats dialed in.
“Man, I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Millaway said. “I was back there, I was standing in my zone making sure nothing was getting in my way, and he just threw it up and I just went up and grabbed it. It felt amazing. That’s my first interception of the season and it meant a lot to me.”
Five plays later, Harris punched the ball into the end zone from a yard out to put the Wildcats ahead to stay at 14-7 with 8:39 left in the third quarter.
“I just thought of my teammates, thought of my coaches and the players who couldn’t play anymore, and I made the play for them,” said Harris, who rushed for 56 yards on 9 carries.
Sitton added a 4-yard scoring run late in the third quarter, and Webb finished the scoring with a 1-yard TD run in the final minutes. Webb, the Wildcats› leading running back who has taken over for injured starter Trevor Codak, paced the offense with 169 yards on 23 carries.
While Eureka enjoyed its return to the winner’s circle, it was a frustrating night for the Falcons, who could not get their option-based offense going against Eureka’s fast defense.
“We just couldn’t really string anything together on offense, particularly in the second half,” Summit coach Eric Stewart said. “Turnovers and penalties. We turned the ball over twice, gave up a pick-6, and when you play a good team like them, you can’t beat yourself. They outplayed us, for sure.”
Sumner praised Eureka’s defensive effort as the Wildcats did not give up a point in the second half.
“Our defense just played outstanding and just proud of those guys over there,” Sumner said. “Our defense, man, they kept us tight, and when our offense got their feet under us and did what we needed to do, it was good to put it all together at the end.”
Eureka’s defense was active with its pass rush, sacking Barringer three times. Noah McCollum and Luke Souhrada paced the Wildcats’ defense with 10 and 8 total tackles, respectively.
Wildcats fall short of Summit
Eureka High School senior goalie Colby Durbin made 18 saves against visiting Rockwood Summit High in a field hockey game Oct. 11.
The visiting Falcons beat the Wildcats 2-1, but Durbin drew closer to setting a school record for career saves. Holly Pearce, a 2021 graduate, set the record in 2020 with 235; Durbin has 233.
Eureka had a record of 8-7 going into its final two games at home against Whitfield on Tuesday and at Notre Dame on Wednesday after the Leader deadline. Both opponents had records of 2-10. Given the rate at which Durbin makes saves, she could hold the record before the playoffs start.
After the game against Summit (16-2-1), Durbin later that day made a verbal commitment to play at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.
“Being so close to beating this record means a lot to me,” Durbin said.
“She plays with Gateway (Club) in the offseason, so she’s very passionate about the sport and I’m very proud that’s showing this season,” Eureka head coach Melissa Menchella said.
Durbin turned aside 19 shots in a 3-1 loss to Westminster Christian Academy on Oct. 9. Summit was strong on the attack in the first half and Durbin kept the Wildcats close with several saves.
“They had a lot of plays from the right side crossing it in,” Durbin said of the Falcons. “They had a lot of people in the circle ready to shoot and I was trying to get my defense to mark up and make sure they couldn’t get through.”
Summit’s Kayla Arb broke through with the game’s first goal in the first period.
“The first goal they scored was my bad because my technique wasn’t perfect,” Durbin said.
Arb gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead with 4:49 left in the third period. She is tied with teammate Tracy Vu with 13 goals this season. The Falcons have four players with 10 or more goals.
Menchella said the 36 goals the Wildcats have scored is the most in one season since 2019. Addison Proffitt leads Eureka with 22 points (7 goals, 8 assists), and Mel Hoevelmann also has scored seven goals and has 20 points. Goals count for two points.
“It’s been an up season for us. It’s one of our better goal-scoring seasons,” Menchella said. “We were celebrating that the other day because we haven’t had anyone get 20 points for a while.
“Today was a great game for us, probably our hardest of the year, and they played on the most tired legs all year with eight games in two weeks.”
The Wildcats looked plenty spry in the fourth quarter and when Kenna Kohl scored with 9:58 to play in the fourth, suddenly they were threatening to pull off an upset.
Menchella said Kohl is a workhorse for the team.
“We had her in the midfield today because we kind of changed our lineup specifically for Summit. She does a lot of things on the field that don’t show up in the record books.”
Kohl’s goal was off a broken corner. Proffitt recovered the ball, sent a crossing pass in front of the cage to Kohl. Proffitt had two goals in a 3-0 shutout over Parkway West High on Oct. 7.
“Our possession was better in the second half,” Menchella said. “We kept sending it into Summit’s stick the whole first half and we lost the ball a lot and had to constantly redefend.”
Given their record, Menchella believes the Wildcats will be seeded 15th or 16th among the 30-plus teams in the playoff tournament.
“We’ve been sharing a lot of playing time and I’m proud of how all 20 have filled roles. We have a deep bench and they’re doing a great job of keeping fresh legs.”
Two Eureka golfers qualify for state
Eureka High School freshmen Skylar Mann and Macie Pickert qualified for the Class 4 girls golf state championships at the Sedalia Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.
The Wildcats competed in the District 1 tournament at the Crown Pointe Golf Club in Farmington on Monday, where Mann finished 12th with a 6-over par 72. Pickert finished 14th after a round of 79 on the 18-hole course.
The top two teams from each district qualify for state. In a close race between two private schools from St. Louis, Visitation Academy won the district championship with a score of 302. St. Joseph’s Academy was second, two strokes behind. Eureka was eighth with a score of 377. Vivette junior Annie Rothery was the medalist with a 4-under 68, and was the only golfer to shoot under par.
The rest of the Wildcats to play were junior Addison Sestrich (49th, 102), freshman Bailey German (71st, 118) and junior Fiona Betancourt (80th, 131).
District tournaments are set for softball and girls volleyball.
Eureka (14-12-1) is the No. 4 seed in the Class 5 District 2 volleyball tournament being held at Marquette High. Lafayette (26-1) is the No. 1 seed. The Wildcats play Ursuline Academy (No. 5, 11-5) in the quarterfinals Oct. 22.
In softball, Eureka (19-5) tied Lindbergh High for the Suburban Conference (Yellow pool) title and earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 5 District 2 tournament. The Wildcats beat St. Joseph’s Academy (8, 7-11) 10-0 on Wednesday and Marquette (4, 15-12) on Thursday and will play Lafayette (2, 19-10) on Monday in the district final.