Mercer Island survive Bainbridge - State Semifinals

MERCER ISLAND – Mercer Island survived it all.  A Bainbridge lead heading into the final quarter of play of Wednesday’s Division I boys state lacrosse semifinal.  A tying goal by the Spartans that erased a hard-fought come-from-behind Islander lead to send the contest into overtime.  And even a power outage just a minute into the sudden-death period that dimmed Islander momentum for nearly a quarter-hour as officials scrambled to turn the lights back on.

But in the end the Islanders endured.  And it was senior captain Hayden Reisman that fired home the winning shot just 30 seconds after the power came back on that propelled Mercer Island back to the Washington Lacrosse Boys State Championship Game with a 7-6 overtime victory over long-time rival Bainbridge High School, Wednesday at Islander Stadium.

“For our seniors to play their last home game of their high school career against their biggest rival in the state and win in this way was significant,” said Mercer Island head coach Ian O’Hearn who’s squad had to battle through playoff challenges by three of the state’s top goaltenders in Lakeside’s Peter Scott, Issaquah’s Brady Hahn and eventually the Spartans’ Reynolds Yarbrough to earn its first trip back to the championship game since 2011.

“We knew that we had a tough road to get to the championships.  But we knew we would be better for it,” O’Hearn said.  “(The win over Bainbridge) will make us that much stronger for the championships.”

Reisman, who finished the game with five points on three goals and two assists, broke for the goal on a double-screen as the clock approached 2:34.  Taking a Cooper Johnson pass from the left side, the midfielder fired the game-winner over the right shoulder of an otherwise stellar Yarbrough to send the Islanders to their 12^th all-time boys state title game and 11^th in the past 13 years.

“We had a quick play that we threw in for overtime,” said O’Hearn, who had called time-out after regaining possession and bringing the ball back to midfield.

As the whistle blew to restart play the lights went dark, said O’Hearn who huddled his offensive and defensive units to individually refocus them on their field assignments.

“More of the pressure was on the other team,” he said.  “Their goaltender was getting cold and he was anxious,” said O’Hearn who’s Islanders had managed just 18 shots through the first three quarters before unleashing 24 on Yarbrough in the fourth.

“It was simply harder on Bainbridge,” he said.  “They gave everything they had in the first three and we shell-shocked the goaltender in the end.”

Mercer Island, now 20-3-0 on the season, struck first on a Steen Swedstedt goal assisted by Reisman at 11:06 of the first.  But Bainbridge fought back with a Jackson Larkin goal at 2:21 of the opening quarter to knot the game at 1-1.

In the second, the Spartans forged ahead as Jacob Knostman beat Islander keeper Benji Rothenberg at 9:17 to take its first lead of the game.

But Mercer Island came back with Reisman scoring his first of the night with just 1:37 to go in the quarter to force a 2-2 tie at the half.

“Overall we needed to calm down.  We were putting ourselves in bad situations,” said O’Hearn after his Islanders gave up at least four unforced turnovers in the second quarter alone.  “We needed to come out hard and keep our foot on the gas pedal.”

But the third initially belonged to the Spartans as Ingrasci struck first with an 11:19 shot to give Bainbridge their second lead of the night.   Just 3:17 later, Max LaRoche gave the Spartans their largest lead of the night at 4-2.

“When we finally went up an tied it, it was frustrating not to be able to maintain that lead,” said O’Hearn who has struggled all season to keep his squad on top of their game coming out of the half-tme break.  “As the season has gone on we haven’t had the best third-quarter performances.”

Mercer Island stopped the bleeding with just eight seconds remaining in the quarter as Reisman narrowed the gap to a single goal at 4-3 with bullet past Yarbrough and regain the Islander momentum.

Peter Mahony followed at 11:03 of the fourth to knot the game at 4-4 and Justin Rorem took a Mahony pass just 2:06 later to put the Islanders back on top.

But Bainbridge fought back.  Tying the game first on a Greg Shea goal at 6:07, then following an unassisted shot by Steen Swedstedt that again put the Islanders on top with 5:44 remaining, sent the game into overtime on a Larkin goal with 4:35 remaining to make it 6-6 and close-out regulation.

For the Islanders Reisman led all scorers with three goals and two assists, while Swedstedt scored two goals and an assist.   Rothenberg had 10 saves in goal.

Bainbridge, which finished second in the Division I Metro Conference, ended their season 14-9-0, dropped their second of the season to the Islanders after falling 9-6 on April 27 at Islander Stadium.

The Spartans were led by Larkin with two goals while Knostman, Ingrasci, LaRoche and Greg Shea all had single goals.  Yarbrough finished the night with 18 saves.

In Saturday’s Division I state championship game, which gets underway at 6 p.m. at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium, the Islanders face defending state champion and their traditional rival Bellevue(20-2-0) which downed Eastside Catholic 12-6 in their semifinal on Wednesday.

Game Summary

Mercer Island 7, Bainbridge 6 OT – Mercer Island advances to Division I state championship game (Hayden Reisman, MI, 3 goals, 2 assists, 2 ground balls; Steen Swedstedt, MI, 2 goals, 1 assist, 1 ground ball; Justin Rorem, MI, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Peter Mahony, MI, 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 ground ball; Cooper Johnson, MI, 1 goal, 1 assist; Benji Rothenberg, MI, 10 saves, 2 ground balls; Jackson Larkin, B, 2 goals, 1 ground ball; Jacob Knostman, B, 1 goal, 1 assist; Kaegan Ingrasci, B, 1 goal, 1 assist; Max LaRoche, B, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Greg Shea, B, 1 goal, 4 ground balls; Reynolds Yarbrough, B, 18 saves)