Webster Lacrosse Outlasts Kirkwood in Overtime

Chalk it up to another hard-fought, nail-biting Kirkwood-Webster game. The rivalry, the fans and the Friday night lights at Moss Field brought out the best in both lacrosse teams, but Webster Groves wanted it more, gritting out a 9-8 overtime win over the Pioneers.

"Webster came to play," Kirkwood coach Trey Hogan said. "You can't say the Kirkwood-Webster rivalry is dead at all. Everybody came to play."

has more losses than wins this year, but they came ready to play on Friday night, jumping ahead 2-0 within the first few minutes. answered, but the Statesmen kept it up and were ahead, 5-2, after the first 12-minute quarter.

Webster sophomore Brett Harris was the only one to score in the second period, leaving Kirkwood ahead 5-3 after 24 minutes. Harris had a game-high of four goals.

In the third, Webster sophomore Breck Pepple and then Neal Krejci evened the score at 5, then Harris added his third goal for the night to put the Woodchucks up 6-5. Kirkwood senior Charlie Warden and junior Michael Carter scored the next two goals, making it 7-6 for the Pioneers. Then Webster took their turn for two goals when sophomore Mike Wayman hit twice, putting Webster up 8-7 after three periods.

Kirkwood's Wayman scored halfway through the fourth, tying the game at 8, where it stayed through regulation time.

A referee said there would be no overtime, but no one told the players or fans that. A Webster-Kirkwood game ending in a tie?

"No, no, no. Not with Webster-Kirkwood," said Brandon Hope, Webster's coach.

The two sides immediately gathered around their coaches, and the referee signaled to the press box to put four minutes on the Moss Field clock. It only took 10 seconds into sudden-death overtime for Webster's Harris to score.

"I just went as hard as I possibly could, took everything I had in my body, and just had to get the goal for my team," Harris said. "I just had to do it. Everybody was counting on me."

Hope said the Pioneers had been in a rut, and that maybe it took the lights to bring out a good game in them.

"They played hard the whole game, all four quarters, all the way to the very end. Best game we played all year. Well-deserved," Hope said.

Hogan said Webster has had a rough season. "We've got a young team, and everybody's been playing hard," he said. "We put together our best game tonight. It was a good night to do it."

Kirkwood's final game of the season is at St. Louis University High School on Thursday, May 12. Webster's next game is at Holt on Tuesday, May 10.