Now a full month in, the 2016 boys lacrosse season is starting to take shape. Following the madness that was the Northwest Invitational, a good handful of the top teams here in Washington have boarded flights to spend their spring break vacations going toe to toe against top programs from Massachusetts to Colorado.

Only two teams with a clean record remain, Division I #9 Gig Harbor (7-0) and Division II #4 Gonzaga Prep (4-0). With the rest of the pack returning with chips on their shoulders, the intensity of the season is about to hit a whole new high.

Division I

Bellevue (7-2)
Mercer Island (6-1)
Woodinville (8-5)
Issaquah (6-3)
Eastside Catholic (6-2)
Bainbridge (8-1)
Skyline (7-4)
Stanwood (6-1)
Gig Harbor (7-0)
Peninsula (6-1)

With a good majority of the elite programs leaving the region for their spring breaks, and no ranked squads losing any games locally, all ten positions are staying still, for now. #1 Bellevue took the trip east to New York to square off with some of the best programs on Long Island. Last Tuesday, they dropped their first game at Massapequa 13-10, before losing to Garden City in a tight battle the next afternoon, 5-4. They used Thursday to recuperate in the Big Apple before going into their final game with Long Beach, which they came out on top, 8-7. #2 Mercer Island is on the road this week in Massachusetts, starting with one of the state’s top contenders, Duxbury. The first of three games ended with their first lost of the season, 5-9. The Islanders will look to bounce back against top-ranked Medfield on Wednesday and Lincoln-Sudbury on Friday before getting back to conference play in Washington next Monday.

Staying a bit closer to home, #3 Woodinville took their talents to the Rocky Mountains, squaring off with three top-notch Colorado programs. They dropped their first two games, first at Grandview, 15-3, then to Arapahoe, 14-9, before getting back in their groove on Tuesday to take down Ponderosa, 9-1. The Falcons are now staring down seven-straight Eastside opponents to close out the 2016 regular season, with big matches against Eastlake and #2 Mercer Island still on the docket. #5 Eastside Catholic will stay put for now, still collecting big wins over unranked teams. We still have their game with #6 Bainbridge on 4/19 circled on the calendar, their first, and only, major test against in-state opponents.

Taking on three of the top teams in Nevada, #7 Skyline is putting their noses to the grindstone this week in Las Vegas, while #4 Issaquah goes coast to coast, stacking their boys up next to three high-caliber teams in North Carolina’s Durham region. Wrapping things up, #6 Bainbridge, #8 Stanwood, #9 Gig Harbor and #10 Peninsula have all gathered a win or two over the week.

Division II

Liberty (8-3)
Vashon (5-2)
Klahowya (4-1)
Gonzaga Prep (5-0)
White River (6-3)
Seattle Academy (3-2)
Shorecrest (5-2)
Richland (5-2)
Overlake (2-1)
Archbishop Murphy (2-2)

Division II is starting to shape up now that we are a month deep in the season. We welcome #10 Archbishop Murphy to the list, replacing Central Valley (3-3), and sporting a +15 goal average. #3 Klahowya, #4 Gonzaga Prep, and #8 Overlake all had the week off to gear up for the big stretch of season ahead. #1 Liberty picked up a win and loss over the week, but are still boasting four victories against Division I teams and are averaging over nine goals per game in 2016. #2 Vashon and #6 Seattle Academy were both served losses by Division I opponents, while #7 Shorecrest went down to Kamiak, 19-5, before rebounding with a win, 12-8, over #10 Archbishop Murphy.

#5 White River has been putting up a ton of goals so far and already have wins over three Division I opponents, Monroe, Stanwood and Wenatchee, and only fell to Curtis by two and Emerald Ridge by one. After rolling over DI teams and outscoring all opposition 114 to 79, leaping four places in a week seems justifiable. With #1 Liberty and #2 Vashon taking the week off, we won’t see much movement at the top until the April 20th battle between #2 Vashon and #3 Klahowya and April 21st’s #1 Liberty and #5 White River game could start to shake things up. In the meantime, #3 Klahowya will go head to head with Port Angeles, South Kitsap and Redmond before the 20th rolls around. By Mark Donahue