The Sunday Stroll: Back At It

The volume of games returned to normal, though a very low amount of movers and shakers. For the most part the top teams won, the bottom teams lost. The excitement continues to lie with the 4th-7th teams jockeying for playoff position, so we will continue to highlight that group. Eastlake and Mukilteo each went 1-1 for the week to keep themselves holding on to playoff spots at the moment. Eastlake got a big 4 goal night from Josiah Fonte to hold off Sammamish 8-6 before dropping to Bellevue. Mukilteo dispatched Lakeside by a 13-8 count before dropping to Issaquah. The two meet up in a big one for each this week.

The Division I Stroll…

• Biggest stories from the week that was:
  • Lake Tapps also had a 1-1 week to hold in steady playoff position in the Southwest.  The Titans almost snuck past Bainbridge as they led into the 4^th quarter but the Spartans proved too experienced and came back to steal the win.  The Titans did get a big overtime win over Sammamish though to remain in 3^rd place. 
  • No movement atop either conference as Issaquah remains unbeaten and Mercer Island rolled to two more wins this week as well.  Senior attackman, Zac Stickney has returned to the lineup for the Islanders after missing the first month of the season with a foot injury.
• Standout Stat Lines:
  • Jonah Friedl, SO, Lake Washington – The sophomore netminder recorded a season high 25 saves against Issaquah.  Extremely impressive when considering his previous high for the year was 9!
  • Keenan Haugen, JR, Mukilteo– Haugen recorded a career high 6 points with a 5 goal, 1 assist performance in a big win for the Knights over Lakeside. 

• Best match-ups of the upcoming week:
  • 4/24  Curtis @ Bellarmine Prep – Vikings currently have the edge for #5 in the Southwest based on goal differential.  The high scoring Lions plan on changing that.
  • 4/24  Eastside Catholic @ Skyline – Plateau Battle #3
  • 4/26  Lake Washington @ Eastside Catholic – Another one with a shootout feel, especially since Kangs put up 21 last time out.  Can EC hold on to #2 or will Kangs climb into playoff position?
  • 4/26  Eastlake @ Mukilteo – Winner will hold a huge head-to-head advantage should tie-break come in to play for playoff berth.

The D2 Stroll…

• Skagit Conference – San Juan remained atop the conference with their second one-goal win over Whatcom this season as well as a second victory over Skagit Valley.  The Dragons are now the only team in the conference with a winning record putting them in great position to make it back to the playoffs after reaching the finals two years ago and going winless a season ago.  Kyle Hills had the game winner for San Juan with under 30 seconds left in the win over Whatcom.
• Cascade Conference – Snohomish is still unbeaten.  Yes, we keep repeating ourselves because the Panthers just keep winning and in fact they won three games in three straight days this week.   The unbeaten season was put in jeopardy on Wednesday as Providence scrapped and had a chance to tie but the final horn sounded before the Highlanders could get off a shot.  Devin Remlinger led the Panthers with 3 goals in the huge win while Tucker Cooper made 12 saves.  The other big conference game took place between Everett and Wenatchee.  The Seawolves got 5 points each from Stringfellow and Hawkins along with 15 saves from Rutledge to beat Wenatchee for the second time this year.  Barring a huge letdown the next few weeks, the win should lock up at least 2^nd place as they now have a full game lead over Wenatchee and own any tie-break by virtue of the two head-to-head wins.
• Metro North – Crazy week in the Metro North as the seemingly out of it Blanchet Braves pulled one of the bigger upsets in DII this year by handing the previously unbeaten Panthers from Seattle Prep their first loss!  The Braves got a season first hat-trick from James Donaldson and a season high, 20 saves from Zach Traynor to pull it off.  Ballard and Roosevelt were off this week as it was actually the last of the Spring Break weeks and thus a turn for the Seattle Public Schools.  However, Nathan Hale did play a rescheduled game with Vashon on Saturday and the Raiders dropped a tight one 11-9. 
• Metro South – Garfield was off.  Kennedy and Three Rivers each won a game in lopsided fashion.  As mentioned Prep dropped its first of the season to Blanchet despite 3g,1a and 18 gb from Sam Kopf.  Vashon won two games this week including the close one over Nathan Hale to appear they might be back in the fight.
• Evergreen – Overlake kept pace with Snohomish as the only other DII unbeaten by knocking off Mt. Si 12-6.  Barrett Jenness led the owls with 4g,2a while Erik Risa chipped in 3g,2a and 17 big groundballs.  This was a big win for Overlake after being off for 3 weeks.  They hadn’t played a game since March 28^th.  Mt. Si was able to rebound with a solid win over Klahowya.  Big game coming this week for the Wildcats against Redmond.  A win could in essence clinch a playoff berth for the 2^nd year program.
• Olympic – This is the most straight forward conference in looking ahead to the playoffs.  Gig Harbor is currently in first and was off this week, but lost the first time around to Klahowya.  Klahowya will finish at least second but holds that win over Gig Harbor and thus a chance to finish first.  North Kitsap will be third.  South Kitsap and Port Angeles are just playing spoiler at this point. 

• Standout Stat Lines:
  • Jacob Justiniano, JR, San Juan – The groundball specialist in the midfield, Justiniano had the game winning assist off of one of his 10 groundballs to help San Juan beat Whatcom.  His full line for the game was 1g,2a and 10gb.  He collected another 13 gb and another assist in the following win over Skagit Valley.
  • Zach Traynor, SR, Blanchet – 20 saves to help your team knock off a previously unbeaten… doesn’t get much more standout than that! 

• Best match-ups of the upcoming week:
  • 4/24  Roosevelt @ Nathan Hale – Teams both currently sitting at 7-3.  Doesn’t get any bigger than this in the Metro North!
  • 4/24  Everett @ Providence  – Seawolves held off the Highlanders a few weeks ago.  Can Providence enact revenge and get a much needed big win to help their playoff chances?
  • 4/26  Seattle Prep @ Garfield – The much anticipated showdown was postponed earlier this year and with Prep coming off their first loss Garfield has to be excited about their chances!
  • 4/27  Redmond @ Mt. Si – Wildcat wins should clinch second place.  A Mustang win could force a tie and make things interesting!

Lacrosse The Country…

·         Again, we have to start this section with an apology to those we missed and a big thanks to our readers for keeping us on our toes!  Here are the folks we missed last week:

·         Sam Snow (Bainbridge) capped a huge 5-goal day with the overtime winner to lead Fairfield to an upset win over Denver!

·         Greg Mahony (Mercer Island) netted a hat-trick in helping Yale to an overtime win of their own.

·         Hector (Mericos) Rhodes (Lakeside) recorded a career high 3 points in Williams latest contest.  After a slow start he has now recorded a point in 4 straight games.

·         WHSBLA flavor all-over the field Saturday evening when Dominican traveled to Whittier.  For the second time this year, Issaquah’s Matt O’Neill was in attendance to witness our league alumns go at it.  HE saw Bellevue’s Eric Omri score a goal for Whittier in helping the Poets pull out a 10-9 overtime win.  Jake Fritz (Issaquah), Kevin Powers (Issaquah) and Jake Bernstein (LW) all registered points for Domincan.

·         In old news, did you know three WHSBLA alumns were named to this year’s NCAA Inside Lacrosse All-Name team?

Lacrosse Four Thought…

·         Who are the best underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) playing Varsity lacrosse this spring in the WHSBLA?

·         Where is the best place to play in the WHSBLA?

·         What are the best lacrosse names in the WHSBLA this year?

Sound Lacrosse Photo Contest…

·         View last week’s winner and/or begin voting for next week’s winner through the contest page on the Washington State Prep Lacrosse site

·         View the latest photos each week at Sound Lacrosse.

Parting Shots…

·         “Long Beach was ranked 20^th in the nation before the game (against Bellevue) and still ranked 20^th in the Tri-State area.  This was actually a much bigger win than the one against Farmingdale.”    – Ashkaan Jaberi

·         “The Eastlake/LW game synopsis was pretty close to the controversy and confusion that was created by the officials. The synopsis mentions multiple disallowed goals, but the first one was the result of an illegal crosse so it never was a goal in the first place. The second, the buzzer beater, was called good and then later was reversed. This was not due to a penalty or infraction. It was just reversed.  What was so confusing was that the first illegal goal was not technically removed until after LW scored a subsequent goal. So the penalty was not enforced until after LW scored again. Only then did the officials call the first goal no good after Eastlake was screaming for a rule enforcement.  For a time after the illegal crosse, no-one was sure what the score was. The players, coaches and scoring table were all confused… The Eastlake goal at the buzzer was called good…the shooter picked up garbage in the crease, quickly spun and stuffed it over the goalie. The official ran in to assess and then signaled goal. Eastlake rejoiced but then the officials reversed the call.   The real irony here was the OT goal was scored by the same kid who had the illegal crosse earlier.”              – TP Keogh

·         “Danny Zimny, a former midfielder and Klahowya Secondary School grad, is filling in the role as head coach this season after his career was cut short from too many concussions. He is only a junior at Gonzaga but he is leading the Zags to their first winning season since 2004. Exciting news coming out of Spokane.” – Gonzaga Lacrosse

·         “You missed a huge week by Everett's Chas Stringfellow. Chas had an 18 point week. 6g, 3a with 4 gbs against Edmonds. And 3g, 6a, with 16 gbs against Snohomish. That's 6g, 6s, and 20 gbs in one week. Chas put up maybe the best weekly performance of the year in D2!” – Merrick Rutledge

We’ll give a shot to the best emails of the week and include your comments/quotes/etc in next week’s Sunday Stroll.

Time to hear from you!  Feed us your thoughts, edits, questions… bring it!         

EMAIL: TheSundayStroll@gmail.com