Brandon Fortier, former standout player for Eastside lacrosse club and Whittier College and current HS coach, writes the popular Weekly HS Beat for Boys HS lacrosse during the season.

Beginning the Spring Break Stretch

Week 3: March 31- April 5

SCOREBOARD

PICTURE of the WEEK

Overlake�s Henry Querhn drives against Issaquah�s Matt Rossman.

*If you have any pictures you would like to contribute, please send to [email protected]

NOTES & REVIEW

This week begins a 3-week stretch of �Spring Breaks�.  Since school district�s spring breaks vary, scheduling during these 3 weeks is staggered and as you probably already noticed, a lot less games each week.

Some exciting news for the Seattle schools however, with the formation of the Metropolitan Lacrosse League.  Currently, 6 Seattle area lacrosse teams compete in the league.  Nathan Hale, Lakeside and Panthers (comprised of players from Seattle Prep) compete in Division I.  Garfield, Franklin and Roughriders (comprised of players from Roosevelt and Ballard) compete in Division II.  All 6 teams have taken the liberty of scheduling exhibition games against each other to determine the virtual �Metro Champion�.

Division I

*The Panthers are at it again.  Two more wins puts them at 4-2 and in great shape for a playoff run.  Currently they are in 4^th place, but well in front of the 5^th-7^th place teams.  

*Lakeside also grabbed another division win, sits at 3-1 and tied for 2^nd place.  The Lions hold the tie-break at this point as they beat Mercer Island last week.

*A tough go for Bellevue and Nathan Hale as both teams sit at 1-3.  The season is still young, but both teams need to make a push if they want to stay close to that 4^th place slot.

*Maple Valley had the unenviable task of facing Mercer after the Islanders had just loss.  Mercer came with the �A� game and blitzed the Vandals 19-6.

Division II

*Two undefeateds left in Division II and I bet not one person would have guessed that after 3 weeks one of those two would be the Roughriders!  In a huge defensive struggle, Team Overtime did it again knocking off conference rival Garfield 2-1 in OT.  The win put the green and gold at the top of the Metro Conference all by themselves!

*The other undefeated is Curtis, but not without a fight from Vashon.  Despite the loss, Vashon continued to prove its talent pushing the Vikings to a narrower margin than Eastside did a week ago.  Vashon followed the loss with a victory over Snohomish to sit at 4-1.

* Eastside rebounded well from their first loss a week ago to Curtis.  The Ravens picked up 2 wins this week including a 13-6 victory over previously unbeaten Overlake. 

NOTE: For statistical purposes, Division II standings have all teams listed together through sportability.com.  Realize that Division II is in fact split into 3 conferences and playoffs will be determined based on standings within these conferences.   Here are the conference standings:

 Cascade League

*Mercer Island looks to be the cream of the crop in the Cascade League.  The Islanders dismantled Curtis 19-2.

*Some unfortunate news�Nathan Hale had to forfeit its game with Panthers this week and word is the Raiders �B� team may be in jeopardy of folding.

TOP PERFORMERS

Luke Larson-Senior, Attack, Mercer Island

Larson could probably be on the top performer list every week.  But, this week, the wily attackman blew up.  Larson had 8 goals and an assist to boot in leading the Islanders to a crushing 19-6 win over Maple Valley.

Adam Sangeorzan-Junior, Attack/Midfield, Panthers

Two Time First Team All-State Midfielder, Sangeorzan had a very respectable 12 pts in his first 3 games this year.  His work went a bit unnoticed due to fellow teammate Andrew Paretti�s hot start.  No big, Sangeorzan upped his game and recorded 15 pts in 2 games this week.  First he notched 3g, 4a in a rematch with Bellevue and then recorded 4g, 4a in a win over Nathan Hale.  He now leads all of Division I in scoring.

John Fluke- Attack, Lakeside

If the Lions are going to make the playoffs, it is going to take more than Kyle Lane.  Apparently John Fluke was listening.  Fluke has scored 10 goals in his last two games.  Although the first game was an exhibition with the Roughriders, 5g, 2a followed by 5g, 1a in back-to-bacl games is hard to ignore.

Jack Andrews- Junior, Attack, Eastside

Andrew�s stat line for the week�9goals, 2 assists.  In a match-up for 1^st place in the Inland-North against Overlake, Andrews simply took over in scoring 6 goals.                                                                                       

GAMES TO WATCH (April 7-April 12)

4/8 Mercer Island @ Bellevue�Mercer is coming off a big win, Wolverines gave the Islanders fits in 2002 and need this one bad to get back in the mix this year.

4/11 Bainbridge @ Mercer Island�If anyone is going to challenge Bainbridge this year, most think it will be the Islanders.

Checkout LaxPower Power Ratings for Washington State High School Boy�s Division I and II.

Complete HS Results: