The Sunday Stroll: Seeds & Scenarios

A big week for Lake Tapps with wins over Mukilteo and Skyline.  The Titans remain the surprise of the Southwest and find themselves in position to clinch at least the #2 seed in the conference with a win over Woodinville on Tuesday. Bellevue got 3 goals and 2 assists from Hank Bethke to win an 8-7 thriller over Mercer Island and keep Bellevue in contention for the #2 seed in the Northeast.

The Division I Stroll…

• Biggest stories from the week that was:
  • For all the doubters, Eastside Catholic is for real.  After losing their first two league games early in March, the Crusaders haven’t lost since, racking up another marquee win over longtime WHSBLA power Bainbridge this week.  Once again, Colin MacIlvennie led the way with 5g, 2a as the Crusaders inch ever closer to capturing the #2 seed in the Northeast Conference and with it, a first round bye!

·         NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PLAYOFF SEEDS and SCENARIOS

o   Issaquah: clinched #1 Seed… games left vs Bellarmine Prep and Eastlake

• Eastside Catholic: games left with Mercer Island and Woodinville… win both and Crusaders are #2
• Bellevue: clinched at least the #3 spot… games left with Curtis and Skyline… win out and Eastside Catholic loses one and Wolverines are #2
• Skyline: games left with Lakeside and Bellevue… one win clinches playoff spot… two losses could put them out if Sammamish can get to 7-7, most likely finish #5
• Mukilteo: clinched a playoff spot in holding wins over Sammamish and Lake Washington… games left with Tahoma and Northshore… if Knights win both and have Skyline drop a game they would finish 9-5 and the #4 seed… at worst if they lose both they are still 7-7 and win tie-break with Lake Washington or Sammamish.
• Lake Washington: game left with Sammamish… win and they are in, lose and await fate based on Sammamish’s final game… would need Mukilteo and Skyline to fall apart to finish any better than #6
• Sammamish: games left with Lake Washington and Stadium… beat Lake Washington and they are in… lose to LW and beat Stadium and pray Skyline drops both both gives them tie-break over Spartans by virtue of win over Skyline… any other scenario with a 7-7 finish puts them out
• Eastlake: games left with Curtis, Issaquah and Bellarmine Prep… mathematically still alive but have to pull a couple big upsets to reach 7-7 and pray for Skyline, LW and Sammamish to all flounder

·         SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE PLAYOFF SEEDS and SCENARIOS

o   Mercer Island; games left with Eastside Catholic and Lake Tapps… clinched at least a #2 seed… win over EC could mean a season ending showdown with Tapps for the Southwest crown

o   Lake Tapps; games left with Woodinville and Mercer Island… need at least one win to keep clear ahead of King’s Way… win over Woodinville sets up Conference Championship game!

o   King’s Way: games left with Puyallup and Bainbridge… Knights will beat Puyallup and possibly set up finale with Bainbridge for a winner take #3

o   Bainbridge: games left with Bellarmine Prep and King’s Way… Spartans can earn #3 seed by winning out

o   Bellarmine Prep: games left with Bainbridge, Issaquah and Eastlake… having already beaten Lakeside, Prep can finish no worse than #6 even if they lose out… if they pull a few upsets they have a shot at #4… odds are they stay right where they are at, at #5

o   Curtis: games left with Bellevue, Eastlake and Stadium… mathematically, still a shot at #5… realistically they stay at #6 but must beat Stadium to clinch

o   Lakeside: games left with Skyline and Tahoma… must finish with more wins than Curtis to make it since they lost to the Vikings… two wins gives them great shot at it… one win puts them in if Curtis loses final three

o   Tahoma: games left with Mukilteo and Lakeside… Bears need help but still have a shot if they can win out and have Curtis and Lakeside lose all their remaining games

• Best match-ups of the upcoming week:
  • 5/7    Sammamish @ Lake Washington – In essence, this is a play-in game for the #6 spot in the Northeast Conference!
  • 5/8    Eastside Catholic @ Mercer Island – A win should give the Crusaders #2 seed, a loss opens the door for Bellevue to climb back over them.  Islanders need this to have shot at #1 in Southwest
  • 5/12  King’s Way @Bainbridge – If all other pieces line up this should be a great one to close the season with winner earning a #3 seed and homefield for 1^st round of the playoffs!

The D2 Stroll…

·         Current Playoff Standings:         2012 Division II Playoff Standings

·         Standings via Sportability are being used to determine host team in playoff match-ups where teams each have the same seed # in their respective conference.

• Skagit Conference:
  • Whatcom: clinched playoff spot… finish #1 if North County beats San Juan… if San Juan wins Whatcom slides to #2
  • San Juan: Dragons are in an odd position- win and they climb all the way to #1 having beaten Whatcom twice this year, but lose and they are out having lost twice to North County
  • North County: big win over San Juan kept playoff hopes alive… need a repeat performance on Monday to grab the #2 seed
• Cascade Conference:
  • Snohomish: #1 seed will host Roosevelt (Metro North #3) on Friday, May 11 in 1^st round of Division II Playoffs
  • Everett: #2 seed will host Skagit #2 (either Whatcom or North County) next weekend in 1^st round of Division II Playoffs
  • Providence: huge win for the Highlanders over Wenatchee to close the season sent Wenatchee home and Providence into the playoffs
• Metro North:
  • Nathan Hale: beat Ballard on Tuesday to clinch #1 seed… host Providence (Cascade #3) on Friday, May 11 in the 1^st round of Division II Playoffs
  • Ballard: despite loss to Hale, win over Shoreline earns the Beavers the # 2 seed… now travels to Overlake (Evergreen #1) for first round playoff match-up
  • Roosevelt: win over Selah clinched #3 seed having beaten Blanchet both times this season… now travels to Snohomish (Cascade #1) on Friday in 1^st round
• Metro South:
  • Seattle Prep: is the #1 seed regardless of final result vs Garfield… Panthers host North Kitsap (Olympic #3) in 1^st round of Division II Playoffs
  • Three Rivers: current #2 after ending season with win over Vashon, but drops to #3 if Garfield can win out by virtue of -7 goal differential head-to-head with Garfield this season
  • Garfield: can earn #2 seed with wins over Prep and Vashon on Monday and Wednesday… a loss to Prep on Monday could make Vashon game HUGE
  • Vashon: needs to beat Kennedy on Monday and hope Prep can knock off Garfield to give them a shot to beat Garfield on Wednesday and force a tie-break
• Evergreen:
  • Overlake: #1 seed and will host Ballard (Metro North #2) to start the playoffs
  • Mt. Si: a great win for the Wildcats over Gig Harbor to close the season… already the #2 seed the win clinched a home field game for them as they will now host either Three Rivers or Garfield (Metro-South #2) in the first round of the playoffs by virtue of a higher overall winning percentage in league games this season
• Olympic:
  • Gig Harbor: despite the loss to Mt. Si, Gig Harbor is the #1 seed by virtue of +7 goal differential head-to-head with Klahowya… now host Metro South #3 (Three Rivers, Garfield or Vashon) in the first round of the playoffs
  • Klahowya: Eagles are #2 seed and will be on the road for the first round of the playoffs… they will travel to Skagit #1 (Whatcom or North County)
  • North Kitsap: #3 seed must travel to Seattle Prep (Metro South #1) in the first round of the playoffs

• Best match-ups of the upcoming week:
  • 5/7  Kennedy @ Vashon – Vashon must win to keep playoff hopes alive.  Lancers looking to play spoiler!
  • 5/7  San Juan @ North County – This amounts to a Skagit Conference play-in game…Winner is in, loser goes home! 
  • 5/7  Garfield @ Seattle Prep – Must win for Bulldogs if they have any plans at the #2 seed!
  • 5/9  Garfield @ Vashon – This one could be huge if Vashon wins/Garfield loses on Monday.

Lacrosse The Country…

·         Taylor Wisman (Northshore) RIT was selected as an Honorable Mention for the Liberty League’s All-Conference Team.

·         Sam Snow (Bainbridge) recorded a hat-trick to help Fairfield past Ohio St and into the ECAC final before the Stags fell to Loyola.

Lacrosse Four Thought…

·         Who is on your ballot for All-American this season?

·         What do you think about the idea of a private school league next season?

·         Which playoff match-up are you most looking forward to?

·         How does your Division II Playoff bracket look?

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…

·         “Two of the best midfielders in the state squared off Tuesday night at Kamiak HS. Alex Okemah and Robert Abbott came in to the contest as #1 and #2 in the state in ground balls. The battle didn't disappoint the crowd. Both are college bound and both have played together in the summer. It was a tremendous night to watch both of these stellar midfielders go back and forth through what was a very close game for 3 quarters. The Knights ended up with the win with Okemah scoring 3 goals and scooping 10 grounds balls while Abbott scored 6 goals with 1 assist for the Panthers and adding 8 ground balls. Both of these guys deserve 1st team All State honors!” – Graham Abbott

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