What a great one this turned out to be! Playoff lacrosse at its best, with huge momentum swings throughout and a frantic finish! Mikey Giannopulos won the opening face off and scored just 10 seconds in to put Issaquah up right away. Tahoma was far from discouraged, and despite giving up a second one to Giannopulos in the quarter, far outplayed Issaquah. On the defensive end, Tahoma pressured well and kept Issaquah to short, one-shot possessions or turnovers. On the offensive end, the Bears were patient and began converting chances. Standout performances from sophomores Larsen (#16) and Gowdey (#4). Larsen scored Tahoma's 1st goal Man-Up to tie it at 1, he then scored their 2nd goal to tie it at 2 off a loose ball near midfield.

The 2nd quarter was more of the same. Tahoma keeper Dustin Hendrix kept the door closed and Tahoma made good on some man-up chances to take a 4-2 lead at half.

Issaquah didn't seem too rattled, nor did they seem to show any urgency to start the second half - but maybe they should have. Tahoma jumped all over the opportunity, with Dakoda Barger finishing a sweet inside roll. They followed suit with another man-up conversion and all of a sudden, midway through the 3rd quarter, upset city was in the works, 6-2 Tahoma

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The Eagles had to get their backs off the wall, and Ryan Egland was the spark they needed, scoring a wraparound on an unsettled situation as Issaquah appeared to be subbing. Moments later Matt Thomas rifled a pass through the seam to find Zach Fritz at the back post for a redirect. Then in stepped Jake Lindahl. Seldom used in the first half, Lindahl became the x-factor and he began unloading. He got his first to close the third and pull Issaquah within one.

Matt Thomas kept flying around and ripped one top shelf to open the 4th - tie ball game! This time Tahoma had an answer as Issaquah found itself man-down yet again. Issaquah failed to rotate and Tahoma converted its 3rd man-up goal of the game to retake the lead. But Lindahl wasn't done. He ripped one off a feed from Zach Fritz. Soon after, Ryan Egland pushed from x, skipped a pass to Lindahl and he ripped the net again! Issaquah had taken it's first lead since being up 1-0.

And they weren't done. This time Matt Thomas initiated. He was pushed well wide, but managed to skip a pass all the way through the seem to Lindahl on the back side. This time Lindahl face dodged to get a bit closer - same result as he pinged the net again. Lindahl had rattled off 4 goals on 5 shots in just under a 10 minute stretch to put Issaquah up 9-7.

Tahoma coach Brian Johnson named Mikey Giannopolus the difference maker in the game - he had dominated faceoffs all night and he continued to do so giving Issaquah possession again. Issaquah missed a couple chances to extend their lead, and the game clock dipped below 2 minutes.

Issaquah looked to stall out the remainder of the game. They killed nearly a minute before Tahoma earned the ball back. Dakoda Barger pulled the same move again, initiating down the alley before rolling back inside to pull Tahoma back to within one. Giannopulos won the faceoff again and this time was tripped. Issaquah killed most of the time but inexplicably lost the ball again with about 20 seconds left... a mad scramble ensued, capped by a Fritz groundball to a shot on an open net that bounced over.

The ball was awarded to Tahoma with just 1 second left. Unfortunately for the Bears, enough time had run in the scramble to preserve Issaquah's huge comeback win.

Issaquah heads back to the finals - the program's 5th time in just 10 years at the Division I level. Tahoma for their part represented the south sound quite well this year, falling only a goal short of their first appearance in the state championship. Coach Johnson was complimentary in defeat, calling Issaquah "as always, a classy group that plays a very disciplined brand of lacrosse." While they won't meet Bellevue in the championship, Tahoma coaches Brian and Nick Johnson are happy with their season - "We are very proud of the steps that our family took this year. While we fell short of our team goal, we learned valuable lessons of what it takes to push yourself and teammates towards goals previously thought unobtainable. We are most proud of the fact that all of our players treat their opponents, officials and people with respect all while competing at a high level."