Division I 1st Round Playoff Results

First Round- Lake Washington v. King's Way, Eastside Catholic v. Tahoma, Tacoma v. Eastlake, Bellevue v. Lake Tapps

Eastside Catholic Beats Tahoma 13-9

A beautiful evening brought in a first round match up between the Tahoma Bears and the Eastside Catholic Crusaders.  With two evenly matched teams competing for a quarterfinal spot this game promised to be close.  The first quarter was played cautiously by both teams with the Crusaders striking first on goals by Jeff Foreman and Ross Komenda.  Despite the Bears inability to muster a offensive threat in beginning of the quarter, they rallied to bring the score level with a pair of goals by Justin Ross.  Kyle Decker of Eastside Catholic gave the Crusaders a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Eastside Catholic rushed into the 2nd quarter with a sense of purpose, and with goals from Ross Komenda, Kyle Decker and Michael Rambaldini the Crusaders took a 6-2 lead.  After a Tahoma time-out, Jake Drumm got one back for the Bears.  But the Crusaders were not finished as Ross Komenda got a hat-trick before the half after finishing a fastbreak.  Crusader Ian Duchame had a split dodge from behind the cage and Eastside Catholic pulled farther ahead.  Tahoma was able to get two back from goals by Desmond Decker and Jake Drumm, before Kyle Decker again closed the scoring for the quarter giving the Crusaders a 10-5 lead at the half.

Unwilling to lay down and concede the game, Tahoma came out on fire and pushed the tempo of the game contesting every ground ball and with an aggressive defense forced turnovers. For nearly 9 minutes the Bears peppered shot after shot at the goal, but were unable to hit net.  Finally at the 3:36 mark in the 3rd quarter the Bears were rewarded with a goal by Brody Lundquist.  Two more goals by Tahoma from Mike Roessler and Brody Lundquist brought the bears within two at the end of the 3rd.

With Eastside Catholic controlling the 2nd half faceoffs and finally finding the kinks in the Tahoma defense, Peter Kimble and Michael Rambaldini increased the Crusader lead.  The Bears would comeback with two goals coming from a long stick coast-to-coast goal by Riley Owens and another from Desmond Decker.  However that would conclude the scoring by Tahoma.  Eastside Catholic would finish with a goal on an EMO opportunity by Ross Komenda.  Eastside Catholic will next travel to Bainbridge Island on Friday.

Lake Washington Falls to King's Way 12-9

Clayton Frank (KW)- 5g, 2a

Jack Beall (KW)- 3g, 4a

Tacoma Escapes Eastlake 11-10

Max Jones (Tac)- 4g

Bellevue Trounces Lake Tapps 17-4

The Lake Tapps Titans started off their first ever Division 1 playoff game in fine fashion. A large crowd of fans made their way to Bellevue Stadium for a date to face the defending State Champions but sophomore attackman Josh Davenport was undaunted.  Barely four minutes into the game, he rolled clear of the Wolverine defense and from just outside the left crease delivered a high pill past netminder Austin Boyd.  Lake Tapps 1, Bellevue 0. Cowbells exploded from the stands, cheers rang out, and fans became hopeful for that which they had dared not dream.  Minutes later, Cole Johnson and Drew Douglas responded and Bellevue flew in front, 2-1. But Titan longpole Michael O'Connor took made a fastbreak down the spine and buried a 12-yarder past a frozen Boyd. Tied 2-2, cowbells and hope reigned again.

But a different rain was in the forecast. Not the liquid kind, but the Johnson-Douglas-Johnson-Leggett-Johnson-Gulrajani-Douglas-Spengler-Bethke-Douglas kind.  The crowd blinked and suddenly it was halftime and the score stood 12-2. The Titans stood tall but it was not enough as the Wolverines mined goal-rich veins of openess spidered throughout the Lake Tapps defensive strata. The 2nd half came and went, as both teams got some playoff experience for the kids deeper in the rotations. This bodes well for the future of both of these young squads as surely they have not seen the last of the playoffs.  The final score was 17-4.  Bellevue moves on to face a waiting and rested Curtis squad Friday night. Riding a three game winning streak, the Vikings hope to carry that momentum to a victory over the Wolverines. For Lake Tapps, the challenge is to make this year a stepping stone. It highlighted how close they are to being a legitimate contender in the Southeast conference.  Their youthful program, solid coaching and great booster support can carry this team for many years. Let the cowbells ring.

Players of the Game

Bellevue

Dakota Jones, Season high 13 gbs.

Lake Tapps

Michael O'Connor, a monster all over the field, and tallies his first goal of the season.