MI lacrosse hands Bainbridge second loss in ‘Island War”

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. –  Bainbridge hosted the annual Island War under a blanket of northwest rainfall.  The Spartans played their second game of their double header weekend against Mercer Island on Saturday, after falling 11-10 to Lake Washington the previous night.  Prior to the game a moment of silence and memoriam was taken for Mercer Island class of 2007 alum Tim Wettack Jr., who passed away last month.  Some of Wettack's best performances during his career were against Bainbridge Island and it was a humbling gesture by the hosting Spartans to respect their fallen opponent and fellow member of the Washington lacrosse community.

The teams took to the field with the Spartans sporting "All-White" uniforms and the visiting Islanders in the contrasting "All-Blacks".  It was a back-and-forth for the first few minutes as both teams felt each other out and the sticks warmed up. The Islanders controlled the ball for most of the first quarter with Grant Preisler, Mike Schwartz and Alex Robbs all scoring unassisted goals.  After drawing a power play, the Islanders turned the ball over and Bainbridge capitalized on a defensive miscommunication as Jacob Knostman fed Max LaRouche for a nice fake out on Islander goalie Carlos Barrios.  The Spartans gained possession on the ensuing face-off and settled into their offense.  Knostman found Jacob Ashton for the high heat from outside, cutting the score to 3-2.  Clearing the ball emerged quickly as a weak point for the Islanders leading to turnovers.  Bainbridge got a scoring opportunity on another Islander penalty, but the open look by Ashton was blocked by Barrios in the cage.  Islanders kept the lead 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.  The Spartans offensively work the isolation from behind looking for open shooters at the midfield, while the Islanders initiated from the midfield and scorers opened up coming from behind. 

Bainbridge found composure and offense opporotunities entering the second quarter, despite two point blank saves by Barrios on their shooter.  Spartan Sean Mair got a nice feed up top and finished the equalizer on a bounce shot.  Mercer Island appeared to lose focus after some defensive miscommunications and poor passing that forced a timeout.  In response, Preisler got some space and fire a shot, but Spartan goalie Reynolds Yarborough got a piece of it only to see the ball trickle into the net, giving the Islanders the lead 4-3.  Clearing continued to befoul the Islanders, giving the Spartans possession time.  Immediately off the restart, Knostman again found a wide open Keagan Ingrasci on the doorstep to tie the game again at 4-4.  The Islanders failed to find the net with possession and both teams headed into halftime knotted up. 

Intensity and aggressiveness picked up with both teams with more stick checks, body hits and shots.  The Spartans were tenacious at generating second chance opportunities off shots.  Barrios stood strong in cage giving the Islanders the ball.  On the opposite end, Preisler racked up a hat trick scoring unassisted as the Islanders looked to pull away.  It was short lived as Greg Shea found Ashton for the equalizer.  Preisler got the ball again and pushed his defender, scoring unassisted off the face-off. It opened the gates for the Islanders as Mercer Island's Connor Bernal, quiet for most of the game, scored an unassisted goal.  Afterwards, Islander Peter Mahony won his own face-off and scored as the Islanders began to pull away 8-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mercer Island gained the momentum and began to pull away as Hayden Reismann opened up scoring in the fourth quarter with a high-to-high shot.  The game fell into transition as neither team could find net or maintain a solid possession.  The silence was broken as Bainbridge defender Adam Gargus cleared the ball himself and scored a nice off hip shot, bringing the crowd back into the game as the Spartans trailed 9-6 late in the fourth.  The Spartans did not bow out, they continued to pressure as Bernal drew a penalty.  Shea once again found Ashton for a nice hard shot past the keeper during the power play, forcing an Islander timeout.  Mercer Island was in control as Bernal and Robbs finished out the scoring and give the Islander an 11-7 win in the Island War.

“Bainbridge played very well, and they countered our systems”, said Mercer Island coach Ian O’Hearn, who’s Islanders downed Bainbridge 5 – 3 in last year’s state championship game and have dominated the series since 2005 winning 8 of the last 12 meetings. 

“I told Jack (Visco, Bainbridge coach) after the game, no matter how either one of our teams is doing record wise (this rivalry) is always a great game,” said O’Hearn. 

Scoring

Mercer Island   3  1  4  3  -- 11

Bainbridge       2  2  1  2  --   7

Mercer Island 11, Bainbridge 7 (Grant Preisler, MI, 4 goals;  Alex Robbs, MI, 2 goals, 1 ground ball; Connor Bernal, MI, 2 goal, 2 assists, 4 ground balls; Peter Mahony, MI, 1 goal,  ground balls; Hayden Reisman, MI, 1 goal, 3 ground balls; Mike Schwartz, MI, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; Carlos Barrios, MI, 10 saves;  Jason Ashton, BI, 3 goals, 3 ground balls; Sean Maier, BI, 1 goal, 2 ground balls; Adam Gargus, BI, 1 goal, 5 ground balls; Kaegan Ingrasci, BI, 1 goal, 2 ground balls; Ben LaRoche, BI, 1 goal; Jake Knostman, BI, 5 assists, 4 ground balls; Reynold Yarbrough, BI, 6 saves)

Boys Division II

Olson’s hat trick lifts Gig Harbor lacrosse past Liberty

RENTON, Wash. – Cody Olson tallied a hat trick as Gig Harbor hung on to edge Liberty 7 – 6 to open the 2012 boys Division II varsity lacrosse season, Saturday at Liberty High School in Renton.  

With Liberty trailing 5 – 4 at the end of the third, Olson, a Peninsula High School junior, connected at 7:14 of the fourth followed by a Leif Drathman goal less than a minute later as the Fire moved out to their largest lead of the night 7 – 4. 

But Liberty would not go down easily.  The Patriots’ Mario Moreno beat Harbor goaltender Ashton Sidebottom with 2:06 remaining to make it 7 – 5.  And with just  :39 remaining, converted long-pole defender Wyatt Johnson scored to bring the game back to a one-goal margin.

Liberty won the ensuing face-off and got the ball up field to Peter Disney.  But Disney’s shot sailed wide right in the final seconds.

Gig Harbor (1-0-0) next faces North Kitsap (0-0-0) on Tuesday, March 13 at North Kitsap High School.  Liberty (0-1-0) next faces Mt. Si (0-0-0), Wednesday, March 14 at Mt. Si High School.

SCORING

Gig Harbor  2  2  1  2   -- 7

Liberty         1  2  1  2   -- 6

Gig Harbor 7, Liberty 6 (Cody Olson, GH, 3 goals, 1 ground ball; Leif Drathman, GH, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Desmond Ary, GH, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Ricky Chenoweth, GH, 1 goal, 7 ground balls; Alex Dworsky, GH, 2 assists, 1 ground ball; Corey Marchand, GH, 1 goal, 3 ground balls; Chad Powers, GH, 1 assist; Jon Michael Cosper, GH, 8 ground balls; Ashton Sidebottom, GH, 2 saves; Colin Ross, L, 4 goals, 4 ground balls; Wyatt Johnson, L, 1 goal, 1 assist, 12 ground balls;  Mario Moreno, L, 1 goal;  Roland Deex, L,  10 saves)

Games for Monday, March 12

Girls Varsity

Bellevue at Bethel (Bethel High School / 5:30 p.m.)

North Kitsap at Spanaway Lake (Bethel High School / 7 p.m.)

Issaquah at Eastside Catholic (Eastside Catholic School / 7 p.m.)

Overlake at Mercer Island (Mercer Island HS / 8 p.m.)

Games for Tuesday, March 13

Boys Division I

Tahoma at Garfield (Upper Genessee Park / 5:15 p.m.)

Issaquah at Northshore (Bothell HS / 7 p.m.)

Eastside Catholic at King's Way (Columbia River HS / 7 p.m.)

Skyline at Eastlake (Eastlake HS / 8 p.m.)

Sammamish at Woodinville (Woodinville HS / 8 p.m.)