Lake Tapps Surprise Everyone With Battle of Bothell Victory

Written by Bolton Lancaster with pictures are courtesy of Brenden Stanko.

Everyone knows that David beat Goliath. Of course, he was never expected to. Last weekend at the Battle of Bothell Lacrosse Tournament, the local Lake Tapps Bulldogs took on Oregon’s Lake Oswego in the 5th/6th grade finals. Nobody believed that the Bulldogs would be able to make it far in the tournament, let alone be a serious contender. But the Bulldogs went on to do the unexpected and made it to the championship game.  The Lake Tapps team is only two years old and went up against a team that had more experience and a larger pool of players to choose from. But the Bulldogs had hope, showed heart and hustle, and played as a team to win the title game and the tournament in overtime with a score of 8-7.

Louis Lucchesi started the 5th/6th grade team last year in 2006. None of the players had experience and the first year was a difficult one with only a few wins. However, the team’s work ethic and love of the game paid dividends for the team in 2007. Under the coaching of Lucchesi and Mark Funkhouser, the Bulldogs won all but one of their regular season games this year. To finish the season, the team entered the third annual Battle of Bothell, where there is a higher level of competition.

The Battle of Bothell is well-named: over 40 teams take part in the tournament, 17 of those at the 5th/6th grade level. The Bulldogs kicked off the tournament Friday night by playing a tough Snohomish team. Snohomish was the only team that Lake Tapps had lost to during the regular season, so the Bulldogs were determined to win. After a slow first half, Lake Tapps came from behind to win the game 8-6.

Lake Tapps’ second game of the tournament was Saturday morning against Issaquah Navy. Issaquah has a large lacrosse program with many teams so the Bulldogs were not sure what to expect. However, the Bulldogs started to click and ended the game in a convincing 9-3 victory. Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs took on Northshore West. After the first five minutes of play, Lake Tapps had the game under control and kept it that way until the final whistle, with a score of 12-4.

Because of their victories, Lake Tapps got a bye in the first round of playoffs on Sunday. Their first playoff game was against Beaverton, a select team from Oregon. There’s history between Lake Tapps and Beaverton: they met last year in the tournament with Beaverton gaining a sound victory over the Bulldogs. It was payback time. The Bulldogs quickly jumped out to an early lead. The tables had turned from last year, with a final score of 12-4. The Bulldogs had earned a berth in the championship game. Their final opponent, Lake Oswego, is another select team from Oregon. They draw their players from 8-10 different teams, taking only the best of the best. For the tournament, they decided to use only their 6th grader players, while a majority of the Lake Tapps players are in 5th grade.

The game was filled with momentum-swinging goals and hard hits. The Lake Tapps team jumped out to an early lead, but could never pull away, with Lake Oswego always catching up. At halftime, the Bulldogs were up 5-4 and determined to keep the lead. Nonetheless, Lake Oswego turned on the heat and found themselves ahead 7-5 with four minutes left in the game. Fortunately, the solid defense and goalie were able to keep Lake Tapps in the game. In a key play, Connor McLeod of Lake Tapps scored a goal with only two minutes left in regulation to close the gap between the two teams. After a series of possession changes, Lake Tapps got the ball and started working it around on their offensive half of the field. With four seconds left in regulation, Hayden Stanko scored the game-tying goal to force the game into overtime. Sudden-victory overtime would determine the winner.  After a few possession-changes, a crucial warding call was called on a Lake Oswego player. The Bulldogs got the ball and worked it around the field, getting a shot off that the Lake Oswego goalie saved. However, the rebound was scooped up by Michael Lucchesi and shot into the goal for a Lake Tapps victory. The crowd was ecstatic, as were the Bulldog players. The coaches were excited and the Bulldogs finally got to prove to the rest of the lacrosse community what they can do.

Maybe lacrosse is new in the Lake Tapps area. Maybe it hasn’t got as many players as the larger programs.  But one thing is certain: just like David, the Lake Tapps Bulldogs should never be underestimated.