ISSAQUAH – In front of an always-rowdy Issaquah student section, the Eagles shelled an aggressive Tahoma squad with a barrage of shots, on the way to a 17-6 season-opening victory.

Georgetown-bound, Mikey Giannopulos began the night by setting an Issaquah school record for groundballs, off his first of many face-off wins for the game. It was sophomore, Eli Przychodzen, who put one in the back of the net first though, to give Tahoma the early 1-0 lead. Seconds later, Mikey Giannopulos took advantage of a face-off violation and sped straight through the Tahoma D to even things up at 1 with a clean bounce shot. Issaquah would go on to get another from Cody Klansnic, and one more from speedy Mikey Giannopulos to end the 1st quarter with a 3-1 advantage.

Issaquah broke out quick in the second quarter, putting up 8 total goals, including a lazer from junior midfielder, Jake Lindahl. Not to be outdone, Tahoma answered twice, including a rocket of a shot from the top of the box from midfielder Taylor Vastbinder with under a minute left in the second, sending the teams into halftime with a score of 10 to 3, Issaquah.

Tahoma’s always stingy defense played solid all game, but the precise passing of Issaquah opened opportunities on offense, leading to well executed tic-tac-toe finishes on the crease, including one from junior Jake Gonzalez with a little over 8 minutes left to play in the third. Tahoma’s Hudson Taylor buried one of his 2 goals on the night, off a well-transitioned fast break from the Bears defense to close out the third.

The fourth quarter was much of the same, with the Eagles dominating time of possession and ground balls. Junior Ryan Egland had himself a night, putting up 4 goals and 4 assist, including an absolute beauty of a right-to-left split dodge from low, leading to a goal.

Issaquah (1-0) takes on Newport (0-0) on March 21st, while Tahoma (0-1) hosts Emerald Ridge (0-0) on the 18th!

Top Performers:

Issaquah –

Ryan Egland (4 Goals, 4 Assists)

Mikey Giannopulos (4 Goals, 9 Ground Balls)

Jake Lindahl (3 Goals)

Tahoma –

Matty Taylor (2 Goals, 2 Assists)

Hudson Taylor (2 Goals, 1 Assists)

Goalie Performance:

Issaquah –

Jordan Dondoyano (12 Shots, 6 Saves, 50% Save)

Tahoma –

Dustin Hendrix (21 Shots, 4 Saves, 19% Save)