Three Champions Crowned

DIVISION I         Bainbridge Spartans

DIVISION II       Panthers Lacrosse Club

DIVISION III      Curtis Vikings

Another season has unfortunately come to an end, but what a year it was!  The season concluded with an exciting playoff week and a great day of lacrosse action at Mercer Island Stadium.  The middle-schoolers even took center stage and started the day with a bang as Queen Anne defeated Mercer Island in overtime.  The rest of the day’s action lacked the same drama, but it was easy to see the continued growth and development of the sport here in Washington.  Some great lacrosse was played at all three levels and three deserving champions were crowned.  Here is the final recap!

Highlights 

DIVISION I

·        In the semi-finals, Bainbridge dismantled Maple Valley and Mercer was able to squeak by the upstart Bellevue squad.  This set the stage for a rematch of last year’s thriller.

·        Several awards were announced earlier in the week and many were honored in between the

Division II and Division I finals.  Congratulations to all the following honorees:

All-Americans                        Adam Smith, Bainbridge, Senior-Attack

                                                Jon Bodansky, Lakeside, Senior-Defense

                                                Andy Young, Belleveue, Senior-Attack

Academic All-American         Alex Wells, Nathan Hale, Senior-Midfield

Coach of the Year                  Steve Corley, Bellevue

·        CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BAINBRIDGE SPARTANS!!!

Congrats to Coach Ryan Painter and the Bainbridge Spartans on an undefeated season and a state championship!

The Spartans came out hungry to reclaim the cup.  Mercer Island fought valiantly for a bit, but Bainbridge just kept coming and wore the Islanders down.  The result, Bainbridge captured their 8^th title in 9 years.  Here is the quick rundown:

Freshman David VanderHoek got Bainbridge rolling with a pretty catch and fire on the crease.  Bainbridge would go up 2-0 before the Islanders, Luke Larson would put Mercer on the board with a man-up goal.  Jacob Hayashi responded for the Spartans and Bainbridge led 3-1 at the end of one.

The second quarter saw six minutes of back and forth action without a goal.  Then Joey Solazzi made a big save for the Islanders, but Mercer failed to clear the crease and Joe Picha was able to knock it home.  A few minutes later, Adam Smith drove from behind the cage, drew a double and wisely fed VanderHoek.  VanderHoek[s quick face dodge and goal drew some noise from the crowd and put Bainbridge up 5-1.  Luke Conrad responded with a nifty move of his own, spinning left and sticking a nice bounce shot.  So, the Islanders seemed to still be in it down 5-2 with little time left in the half.  However, as time wound down, Bainbridge had the ball in their own end with 13 seconds left.  A quick clearing pass to Hayashi and he raced the rest of the way to score with 2 seconds left.  6-2 at halftime.

The 3^rd quarter opened with more ball control offense and goals by Adam Smith and another by Jacob Hayashi pushed it to 8-2.  Shortly after, Solazzi was caught out of the cage and Bainbridge got the ball back to Adam Smith.  The Mercer defender was no match and Smith finished.  9-2 and the rout was on.  The Spartans would extend to 12-2 before Larson drew one back for the Islanders.  12-3 at the end of three. 

The 4^th seemed to take forever as Bainbridge was just counting the seconds until they could rejoice.  The game ended 14-6 and Bainbridge celebrated the 2002 championship!

DIVISION II

·        A fairly similar storyline to Division I as Bainbridge dismantled Franklin and the Panthers were able to squeak bye Eastside.   The Panthers defeated Eastside for the 3^rd time this season, no small task as Bainbridge would find out.

So, two old foes met again for the crown.

·        CONGRATULATIONS to the PANTHERS LACROSSE CLUB!

In only their second year of existence, the Panthers were able to make it back to the title game.  And this time they made it count!  Having lost two regular season match-ups to Bainbridge B, the Panthers turned their fortunes and kept the Spartans at bay this time. 

After a back and forth 1^st quarter, the game remained scoreless.  The Panthers would jump on the board first and took a 3-1 lead into halftime.  The third quarter became the decisive one as the Panthers kept the pressure on and found the back of the net three more time.  The score was 6-1 at the end of three. 

The Spartans just couldn’t get anything going and their would be no rally this time.  Six different Panthers scored the 7 goals, with 1st team All-State midfielder Tyler Carr scoring 2g 1a. The Panthers defense kept Trevor Charles and Neal Batemen in check allowing only two goals both on man down situations. Senior Joe Grant stood tall in cage and Nick Heilbrunn finished his high school career with another outstanding defensive performance.  The final score, 7-2 and your 2002 Division II champions, Panthers!

DIVISION III

·        Once again, a squeaker and a blowout in the semis.  Snohomish hung tough for a bit, but eventually Curtis took the Titans apart 12-2.  In the other match-up, Issaquah found themselves down by two with less than 7 minutes to play and staged a great comeback.   After tying the game with about 30 seconds left, they won it OT to reach the Division III final in only their first year as a program.

·        CONGRATULATIONS to the Curtis Vikings!

The Division III final proved to be the closest and maybe the most exciting game of the day.  On paper the game seemed a huge mismatch.  Curtis won the regular season match-up 17-3.   The duo of Mike Anderson and Tom Gibbon averaged almost 13 points a game collectively as Curtis had never been held to less than 12 goals all year.

Issaquah came out poised and ready and displayed a tremendous defensive effort.  Curtis would get on the board first via man-up.  Gibbon fed Anderson who ripped a shot far pipe for a 1-0 lead at the end of the 1^st.  In the second, Issaquah failed to stay with the cutter and Brett Bullard put the Vikings up 2-0 going into half time.  Curtis came with a good defensive game plan of their own keeping John Harty off the board and holding Issaquah without a shot in the 1^st quarter.  When Issaquah did find some shots, Nick Konopick was up to the task.

Early in the 3^rd, Issaquah finally found the net as Frans Leenstra scored on a nice cut, catch and stick it.  But, Curtis quickly killed any momentum right after the ensuing face-off as Mike Martin raced in uncontested and fired it high past Zach Grote.  The rest of the 3^rd was back and forth.  Both teams had chances, both keepers stood tall and Issaquah’s Zach Grote gave the crowd a rise coming all the way out and firing a couple shots himself.  On the second, he was caught out but Dustin Cramer covered and made a save.  The score stayed 3-1 until the mid 4^th when Billy Nigh capitalized on a loose ball and put Curtis up 4-1.  Tom Gibbon scored late to make the final 5-1.

Issaquah became the first to derail the Anderson/Gibbon express so to speak, but Curtis’s defense was equally up to the task in shutting down Issaquah’s offense.  Too much experience and firepower for the Vikings pulled them to victory and the 2002 Division III championship!

End of Season Stats:

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