Read about the St. Louis area's top high school girls lacrosse players and their accomplishments throughout the 2024 season.
Kylee Pickens had a strong inkling what sport she would play when spring rolled around her freshman year in 2021.
![Kylee Pickens, Eureka](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=150%2C177 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=200%2C236 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=225%2C266 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=300%2C354 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=400%2C472 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=540%2C637 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=640%2C755 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=750%2C885 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=990%2C1169 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C1222 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C1416 1200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/ae/6aeac03e-f6ba-11ee-89a0-a34249e8bc8a/6615b6dd4e690.image.jpg?resize=1325%2C1564 1333w)
Kylee Pickens, Eureka
“I was planning on doing track, which I did in middle school,” the recent Eureka High graduate said.
But fate — and Pickens’ health teacher — intervened.
That teacher was Melissa Menchella, the Wildcats’ girls lacrosse coach.
“Menchy recruited me right out of health class to join lacrosse,” said Pickens, who cited the huge impact Menchella has made on her. “So, my freshman year tryout was the first time I’d ever played, and I ended up making JV as a freshman. I’m really, really glad that I picked lacrosse because I feel like it shaped how I spent high school.”
That choice was indeed a fruitful one for both player and team.
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Eureka made it to the state championship game all three years Pickens was on the varsity roster — including its first title this spring — and she was a big reason why the Wildcats came up victorious this season.
Pickens is the All-Metro girls lacrosse player of the year.
"Kylee's presence on the field is a huge reason why Eureka was able to be the second-ever public-school state champion in St. Louis,” said Menchella, herself a former Eureka lacrosse standout. “Kylee was truly a huge key to our victory this year, and I think she has been so completely dominant on the field. I haven't seen anything like it in a while.”
Pickens was an All-American and all-state choice at midfield. She led the 18-1 Wildcats with 71 goals and 34 assists for 105 points, which tied her for third in the area scoring race.
“I would say my speed was a big strength,” she said. “I think speed being a midfielder is really crucial.”
But what set Pickens apart was her ability to dominate the draw. She racked up 251 draw controls — an average of more than 13 per game — with the next nearest competitor at 149.
“I have rarely seen a high school kid with that kind of mastery on the draw,” Menchella said. “She is the first and only person ever in the history of Missouri lacrosse to get over 200 draw controls in a single season, which is a statement in itself, but her draws for us changed our possession game entirely, and always made teams have to adjust to what she did on the field.”
Opposing coaches also took notice.
“Two-hundred-plus draw controls is absurd,” Cor Jesu coach Andrew Shipp said. “There was no one more dominant this year. She is a very good player.”
“Hands down the player of the year (and there is really no question this year) is Kylee Pickens,” Ladue coach Carrie Lampe added. “No one is even close to doing what she is doing on all sides of the ball and especially on the draw.”
![Eureka vs MICDS](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=150%2C111 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=200%2C148 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=225%2C166 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=300%2C222 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=400%2C295 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=540%2C399 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=640%2C473 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=750%2C554 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=990%2C731 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C764 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C886 1200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C984 1333w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C1090 1476w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/04/c04dc0a5-86a4-5df6-a020-9bd9ebf6b9f3/66525f95455cc.image.jpg?resize=1675%2C1237 2008w)
Eureka midfielder Kylee Pickens (left) pressures attacker Ava Goldson as Goldson carries the ball downfield. Eureka defeated MICDS in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association championship game at Spartan Field on the campus of Missouri Baptist University in Creve Coeur on Saturday May 25, 2024. Photo by Tim Vizer
Experience seemed to be the key to Pickens winning so many draws.
“My sophomore year, I was under Haley Ritchey so I would always be observing and taking it all in,” Pickens said. “My junior year, I was our main draw girl and that’s when I would get a feel for everything. I knew my senior year I really needed to step it up because we needed possession, and the draw starts that.”
Pickens’ phenomenal season and Eureka’s long awaited state championship came in a season in which the program’s all-time leading scorer and preseason player of the year favorite Bailey Boulay went down with a season-ending ACL injury in the second game of the campaign.
“Kylee stepped up big time and made her presence known on the field. No one anticipated the dominance she would bring,” Menchella said. “She was just a threat all over the field. She had our team's highest numbers of caused turnovers, goals, assists, draws and was in the top three for groundballs. That is the true mark of a two-way midfielder, which is a tough accomplishment.”
Pickens, who was a co-captain this spring along with Boulay, Mia Fernandez and Emily Henderson, is quick to point out she wasn’t the only Wildcat to step up her game to new heights this season.
“I’m just so grateful I had the team around me that I did because I truly couldn’t have done anything without them all,” Pickens said. “This year, specifically, we had so many girls step up huge in every position and really fill roles. I really think we got along so well as a team and that’s something that really helped us. Our team chemistry this year was something special.”
Pickens will try to find that same magic at the next level as she goes off to play college lacrosse across the state at Rockhurst University.
“I love the campus and I think Kansas City is beautiful,” she said. “But I think what really did it for me was just the community and how welcoming it was. All the girls were excited for me to be there. It was a full team of really nice, genuine girls, which I think reminded me of Eureka. That just made me know that’s where I wanted to be.”
Read about the St. Louis area's top high school girls lacrosse players and their accomplishments throughout the 2024 season.