On Saturday, Oct. 9, the boys lacrosse team took on Creighton Prep in a preseason scrimmage. The last time these two teams met was in the spring season in the state championship where Creighton Prep came out on top with a 12-8 win. 

The game started with a faceoff win for Millard West. The ball got down to the Wildcats side, but ultimately was turned over and translated into an easy goal for Creighton Prep. Creighton Prep scored two more times until sophomore Reef Beal scored a goal for the cats. Faceoffs would continue to stay in possession of the Wildcats, but as the first quarter came to an end, Creighton Prep would lead 4-1. 

“I think we have a lot of potential,” Beal said. “Winning the ball is one thing, but defending it is a huge aspect and that needs to happen before anything else happens. We just need to chill and settle the ball. I think we could make another state run, but we need to put all the pieces together right now.”

In the second quarter, possession started and stayed with Prep. Despite all the shots from Millard West, Creighton Prep had control. Faceoffs stayed in favor of Millard West, but they were unable to capitalize on any of their shots. Creighton Prep scored seven goals in this quarter, putting them up 11-1 going into halftime.

“With losing so many seniors last year, we need to build this group from the ground up,” coach Tanner Lerdahl said. “I think what we did right is we did not give up and we tried to run out of systems. I think at times, we were too emotional and would beat ourselves up when we would make a mistake. I think if we find our new identity we could be a really good team.”

The Wildcats came back in the third quarter. Freshman Luke White had two goals, but Prep still commanded the game with four goals putting the game at 15-3 headed into the 4th and final quarter.

“I think my goals really helped motivate the team to finish the game,” White said. “The mentality at the end of the game like Coach Tanner told us is to just finish. I think we did a very good job at finishing the game even though it didn’t go our way.”

Millard West started to find their rhythm and scored two goals to finish the game. Unfortunately this was too late in the game, as Prep scored three in the fourth quarter.

The game ended with a score of 18-5, with Creighton Prep coming out on top. Both teams will continue to improve until the spring where they will face off again.