May Madness is here! After months of parity, upsets, and surprise teams, the Washington State High School playoffs are underway. Through the first handful of games, we’ve already seen some down-to-the-wire games, including an overtime bout in Stanwood. Let’s delve into that game, and more:

First Round Notes:

- Lake Washington couldn’t have a much better opening game than their 12-0 shutout victory over Lynden, Friday evening. A Kangs team that put up a conference high 147 goals on the season, didn’t miss a step in this one, with 6 different players recording at least a goal in the game, including a 5-goal performance from the senior midfielder, Eli Singstad.

- Metro Conferences’ Overlake faced off against the #3 seed from the SPSL Conference – Peninsula, in a close one. Parker Hayne’s impressive 14 saves for a 67% save was enough for the Owls to move on to the next round with a 9-7 win. Peninsula’s 7 goals was just the 3rd time the whole season that Overlake allowed more than 6 goals.

- Providence suffered their first loss of the season May 11th to conference rival, Overlake, but the team was able to rebound Saturday afternoon with a back and forth 9-8 win over Eastern Conferences’ Wenatchee squad. Providence’s Matthew Morris and Aidan Walsh both recorded hat-tricks in the victory.

- The Lakeside Lions faced off against Stanwood in what may have just been the ‘Game of the Week.’ After trading goal after goal through the first 48 minutes, the two teams had to settle things in overtime. Dylan Russian scored 1-of-his-2 goals late in sudden death to lift the Lions to the 8-7 victory, sending them on to the next round.

Looking Ahead:

5/19: Skyline @ Seattle Academy – Both teams flaunt very sturdy defenses allowing just 78 and 68 goals respectively on the season. Seattle Academy will look to get back on track after dropping 2 straight games to close out the season.

5/19: Woodinville @ Sehome-Bellingham – Sehome-Bellingham ended the regular season flawless in conference play, and only suffered 2 losses outside. They now face the task of hosting a Woodinville team sharpened by the tough play of the KingCo Conference.

5/19: Bainbridge @ Kamiak – Kamiak boasts a high-powered offense heading into this year’s playoffs. After allowing over 170 goals on the season, Bainbridge will look for ways to slow down the talented offense play of the Knights.

5/19: Seattle Prep @ Mercer Island – Seattle Prep faced some tough competitors this season, but this matchup against the Islanders may top them all. Mercer Island will look to continue it’s scoring ways as they face a tough Panthers defense.

5/22: Providence @ Lake Washington – Both of these teams saw major success this season, compiling a combined 18-4 record in conference play. With both squads easily able to put up double-digits goals, this game is definitely shaping up to be one of the more exciting ones of the week.

There you have it! Every game now has some sort of exciting storyline, and it’ll be interesting to see how things shape up as this tournament goes on!