The Sunday Stroll: Making Mothers Proud

Happy Mother’s Day to all… plenty of boys making their mothers proud this week by clinching playoff spots and earning some post season accolades! A big week for Mercer Island in throttling Eastside Catholic and then taking apart Lake Tapps to earn the #1 seed in the Southwest Conference. Eastside Catholic’s loss to Mercer coupled with Bellevue’s win over Skyline to close the season pushed the Wolverines back into the 2^nd seed and a first round bye.

The Division I Stroll…

• • Despite the loss to Mercer, Lake Tapps remained in 2^nd place and earned a first round bye… a remarkable improvement from a year ago.  Some have commented that Tapps’ success has been in part to their lower strength of schedule.  There is certainly some truth to that as having finished 6^th in the Southwest a year ago, Tapps did not have to face Issaquah, Bellevue, Eastside Catholic or Lake Washington where as the teams that finished behind them, Bainbridge and King’s Way, had to face all four (and each lost to three of them).  True both the Spartans and the Knights beat Tapps and finished with better in-conference records, but Tapps won the games it had to, including key wins over Mukilteo and Skyline down the stretch, to earn their spot.  Those fans that find this unjust might also want to note the fact that Bainbridge will now host Lake Washington in the first round of the playoffs despite the fact that the Kangs beat them this year, a fact Lake Washington might find unjust.  Yes, some team’s schedules are “stronger” than others and in the current system this will just be part of life.  The bottom line is parity is good for the league and you have to win the games on your schedule to earn your spot. 
  • Bainbridge earned the right to host LW by virtue of their season finale win over King’s Way.  In that game, Bainbridge’s Jake Knotsman, recorded 6 points giving him 113 for the season and breaking the old WHSBLA mark of 108 set by former Bainbridge All-American, David VanderHoek.  VanderHoek completed the feat in 16 league games where as Knotsman broke the record in 20 games (14 league and 6 non-league) but an incredible accomplishment nonetheless.
  • The 2012 Division I All-State teams were announced late Sunday night.  You can view them through the WHSBLA Archive pages or just click here: 2012 All-State Teams
  • The 2012 All-Americans were also announced.  Click the link to view the entire historical list of Washington State All-Americans
  • Six All-Americans were selected this season and they are:
    • Attack – Cody Bernstein, SR, Lake Washington
    • Midfield – Connor Bernal, SR, Mercer Island
    • Midfield – Ben Director, SR, Issaquah
    • LSM – Kole Lindor, SR, Issaquah
    • Defense – Sam Leggett, SR, Bellevue
    • Goal – Austin Boyd, SR, Bellevue

·         PLAYOFF MATCH-UPS

o   Curtis (Southwest #6) @ Eastside Catholic (Northeast #3) on Tuesday, 5/15

o   Bellarmine Prep (Southwest #5) @ Mukilteo (Northeast #4) on Tuesday, 5/15

o   Lake Washington (Northeast #6) @ Bainbridge (Southwest #3) on Wednesday, 5/16

o   Skyline (Northeast #5) @ King’s Way (Southwest #4) on Wednesday, 5/16

o   Mercer Island: Southwest #1 Seed… will host the Bellarmine Prep/Mukilteo winner on Friday 5/18

o   Lake Tapps: Southwest #2 Seed… will host the Curtis/Eastside Catholic winner on Friday 5/18

o   Bellevue: Northeast #2 Seed… will host Lake Washington/Bainbridge winner on Friday 5/18

o   Issaquah: Northeast #1 Seed… will host winner of Skyline/King’s Way winner on Saturday 5/19

• STANDOUT STAT LINES
  • Ben Director, SR, Issaquah AND Kole Lindor, SR, Issaquah – The pair had one hell of a night giving the All-American voters something to think about in this week’s win over Bellarmine Prep.  Ben, a midfielder scored 7 times and dished 5 assists for a career high 12 point night while Lindor corralled a career high 15 groundballs at his long-stick midfield position.

The D2 Stroll…

• News:
  • A touching story courtesy of Hans Christenson who shared this: “Just wanted to share a great story of sportsmanship coming from The Selah/Roosevelt game last Saturday, 5/5/12. Prior to the game Selah fans chonored the seniors on their team with a pre game ceremony. This included their waterboy who had suited up for the game. At the first faceoff the waterboy though disabled won the face off and broke through the Roosevelt ranks, shot and scored a goal. He was mobbed by his teammates and cheered by the Roosevelt team. It was touching and hearttwarming scene that made one glad to be a part of the sport. Both teams deserve credit for giving such a thrill to someone less fortunate.”
  • 2012 Division II All-Conference Teams were released.
• Playoff Recaps:
  • Vashon’s loss early in the week clinched a spot for Garfield but the Bulldogs failed to move into 2^nd place by losing to Vashon two days later.  Here are the final conference standings as they finished on Wednesday
  • Andrew McCall’s 16 saves and 4 goals from Will Snider helped Nathan Hale hold off Providence in a 10-9 first round thriller.
  • Snohomish had little trouble with Roosevelt, getting 6 goals from Devin Remlinger to cruise to the 16-4 win.
  • Likewise, Seattle Prep cruised over North Kitsap 18-4 on the strength of an 8 point performance from Cassidy Miller (4g,4a).
  • 10-9 was a popular thrilling first round score as San Juan also pulled the trick over Klahowya.  Eagles had plenty of shots to tie it and even got 3 goals from senior long-stick John Wolfram but San Juan held on.  4 goals from Tate Brumsickle and 3 more from Sean Hills helped the Dragons advance.
  • The Beavers gave Overlake all they could handle and almost pulled the huge upset, but the Owls got 5g, 2a from Colton Umberger to keep their unbeaten DII season alive and pull out the 12-11 decision!
  • Three Rivers and Mt. Si played the lowest scoring game of the first round as the Coyotes held the Wildcat offense to just 3 goals to pull the 7-3 win.
  • Despite finishing third in the Metro South, Garfield found itself in a favorable opening round contest with Gig Harbor and unleashed some offense. 7 goals from Jackson Lanning and 5g,2a from Cedric Rhodes was more than enough and the Bulldogs cruised into the next round.
  • Another one goal thriller to close out the first round as Everett outlasted Whatcom 14-13.  Or, should I say Stringfellow outlasted Whatcom.  Chas stringfellow finished with a ridiculous stat line of 9g,1a and 7 groundballs to lead the Seawolves into the Quarterfinals.

·         PLAYOFF MATCH-UPS

• 5/18  Garfield @ Overlake – On paper appears to be an instant classic… a semi-final caliber match-up a round early!
• 5/18  San Juan @ Nathan Hale – From winless to the Quarters… can the San Juan magic continue? 
• 5/19  Three Rivers @ Snohomish – Tough task for Coyotes to come across the mountains again and knock off a very solid Snohomish squad.
• 5/19  Everett @ Seattle Prep – Everett will need more than just Stringfellow to knock of the Panthers.

Lacrosse The Country…

·         Drew Snider (Garfield) recorded a hat-trick to help Maryland reach the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Tourney with a one-goal win over Lehigh.

·         RIT advanced to the Quarters of the NCAA Division III tourney with a win over Western New England.  Taylor Wisman (Northshore) contributed 1g,4a in the win.

·         Three WHSBLA alumns at Domincan were named with WILA Honors this week.

Lacrosse Four Thought…

·         Who got snubbed from the Division I All-State teams?

·         What do you think of the All-American selections?

·         Which player is missing and deserved a spot on a Division II All-Conference Team?

·         Would any of the remaining Division II Playoff teams make the playoffs in Division I?

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…

·         “The real solution to the VERY SERIOUS problem facing Washington Boys Lacrosse is to split into 3 Divisions based on size of program.  These divisions should be called "3A", "2A" and "1A" in the same way WIAA distinguishes ALL other HS sports.  It also moves away from the notion that "Division 1" is all the good teams and Division 2 is all the rest.  Bellevue's 3A football team doesn't seem inclined to hang their heads in the presence of Skyline's 4A football team, and it shouldn't be that way in lacrosse either.” – Rick Jenness

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