Boys lacrosse: Glenbard West defeats Neuqua Valley to reach first state championship game

HINSDALE – One big step for the Glenbard West boys lacrosse program, but one giant one left to go.

The Hilltoppers advanced to their first state championship game by knocking off Neuqua Valley 14-8 in Thursday’s first state semifinal at Hinsdale Central.

By winning their 23rd straight match, the 24-1 Hilltoppers earned a state final berth Saturday at 5 p.m. against the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Lake Forest and St. Ignatius College Prep.

Sophomore Logan McDougal opened the game’s scoring two and half minutes in off an assist from Cooper Kinney. It was the first of two goals scored by McDougal as Glenbard West jumped ahead 5-1 with a solid first quarter.

“It feels great. The first one in history,” McDougal said of reaching the championship. “We emphasized coming out quick. The first time we played this team I think it was 1-1 or 0-1 [after one quarter], so we emphasized coming out strong and finishing our shots.”

Mission accomplished.

The Hilltoppers came out firing on their way to a 9-4 lead at the half, with a balanced attack proving too potent for a Wildcats team that had routed Libertyville 17-6 in Tuesday’s supersectional round. McDougal had two goals and two assists through two quarters before finishing with five goals and six shots on goal. Teammate Jack Moellering was also on target with three goals and three assists.

“They’ve got some shooters man. They shot the heck out of the ball today,” said Neuqua Valley coach Jordan Bobbo, whose team will play Saturday for third place. “Kudos to them. They took advantage of some invert offense situations; they moved the ball pretty well when we slid. They were aggressive on defense, that was pretty much it.”

Senior long stick middie Eli Limouris said the Hilltoppers have been determined to win it all ever since losing to eventual state champion Wheaton Academy in last year’s supersectional.

“We had this mentality since February. We had a goal from last year when we lost in the supersectional to come out this year and really lose no games,” said Limouris, who will play football next year at Louisville.

“We lost one [match] but it’s been like two and half months since we felt like that, so we’re grooving right now and our whole team is playing unselfish and smart and we take everything seriously. We’re not done yet. We still haven’t won.”

McDougal, who has a team-leading 86 goals, wants one more ‘W’ to cap off a great season.

“We have one big one left,” he said. “This is great. Everyone’s really bonded together to come out with one goal, to win a state championship for the first time.”

For Neuqua, senior captains Cary George and Drew Tedrow did their best to keep their team in the game Thursday. George led the way with three goals and four assists and Tedrow added a goal and a pair of assists.

“We battled the whole way through and they started out hot,” said George, who plans to play club lacrosse at Wake Forest next year after scoring more than 100 goals this spring.

“We knew they were a super good team but we weren’t rattled and we bounced back. I’m proud of us – 14-8 to what I would say is the No. 1 team in the state is not a bad outcome. I’m a senior and I couldn’t ask for a better way to go out. I had fun out there today.”