Over the weekend, the Wildcat lacrosse team traveled to Midland University to battle Westside Warriors. The game was very intense, and the score was close throughout.

The game started out with Westside scoring two quick goals to give them a lead early in the first quarter. Following this, junior Reef Beal started a fast break from the wing to give Millard West their first goal. This led to two more Wildcat goals and one more Warrior goal to tie the game at three. After this, both defenses started to better recognize positioning and stop more dodges, with Millard West scoring once more before the end of the first quarter.

“We played fairly well against Westside, but everyone makes mistakes,” freshman Jack Fedde said. “It shows in the score, and what won us the game was our willingness to get up from each mistake and keep working.”

Right at the start of the second quarter, freshman David Finnestad was able to assist junior Brody Gorseth for a very contested goal. Although the Wildcats were able to complete quickly, Westside got a lucky groundball to bring their deficit down once again. Following this, it looked like Westside was going to put up another shot, but after a tough Wildcat defensive play, it was the opposite. Millard West was able to successfully clear the ball to Finnestad, who then dodged for another goal. Then, both teams went on a scoring run one after another, with West scoring three more times compared to Westside’s four goals ending out the quarter. The score going into halftime was 9-7 Millard West. 

“We played a lot better as a team on both sides of the ball,” senior Nathan Kozisek said. “There’s still some things that we need to work on, especially on defense, but we played really well.”

The third quarter started out fast with the Warriors missing an easy goal opportunity, giving the ball back to the Wildcats. Although Millard West had possession, they quickly lost it due to a hit in the back, where Westside regained the ball. With this occurring, the Wildcats were able to quickly recover, and Finnestad put another one away. This was followed by a lot of scoreless time, where Millard West maintained possession. Following this, the Wildcats failed to stop some of the Warriors dodges, leading to Westside scoring six goals to Millard West’s two. This left the score at 12-13 going into the final quarter.

The last quarter began with Westside taking over the game and scoring three more unanswered goals. This gave the Wildcats little time to score four goals to even the score and stay in the game. However, after a Millard West timeout, something changed. The game picked up as Finnestad scored another goal, giving the Wildcats hope. Right after, guarded by three defenders, Finnestad made yet another heavily contested goal to trim Westside’s lead to two. This was followed by two goals by Gorseth and Finnestad to tie up the game.

Rounding out the fourth quarter, Millard West scored another goal to complete their comeback and held the Westside offense for several minutes. Although West’s defense was strong for a while, they eventually slipped up, and the Warriors tied the game to go to overtime. Right at the start, sophomore Reece Straley won the faceoff and assisted Gorseth for a game winning goal. This gave the Wildcats a much deserved win and left the score at 18-17.

The Wildcats will be back against Creighton Prep at 6:30 p.m. this Friday night. The game will be on Millard West turf and will be one to watch.