Bainbridge falls 14-6 to Bellevue in LAX semi-finals

Published 10:16 am Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The first and last moments of Wednesday night’s boys varsity lacrosse season finale were the Spartans at their finest. The island squad scored first against the formidable Bellevue Wolverines on their own turf, making the matchup’s board debut with just over nine minutes left to go in the first quarter.

Then, they came back hard from a dispiriting deficit at the half to end the game, and the season, with pride and class. Bellevue won, 14-6, to advance to the championship game.

The Spartans left the field with heads held high, and rightly so.

“They have so over achieved any expectations set for this team,” said longtime Spartan Head Coach Jack Visco.

His own expectations, and everyone else’s too, he insisted.

“They surpassed the league’s expectations. There wasn’t a team in Seattle that wasn’t rooting for these kids.”

BHS entered the 2016 Washington Boys Lacrosse State Championship Tournament semifinals (their first trip to the final four in three years) tied with Eastside Catholic for the top spot in the league with a 15-4 overall season record. Two of those losses came far afield, during the team’s annual trip to Oregon. They boasted 8-1 in the league standings, having lost only to EC and Issaquah ‘round these parts.

The Spartans advanced to the semifinals with a dominating performance against Skyline in the quarterfinals last week.

In the matchup on Bainbridge’s home field, the Spartans took an early lead and survived a comeback attempt by Skyline to forge a 14-9 victory.

It was a bruising battle and a highly physical matchup, but it was the third victory in a row for Bainbridge and the sixth win in the last eight starts for the Spartans.

Despite all that, the Spartans quickly found themselves outplayed in the first two quarters of Wednesday’s game against the perpetual powerhouse Wolverines (13-1).

Down two injured critical starters — Aidan Carlisle and Merrit McMahon —  after the initial point, the BHS team lagged quickly behind a series of unanswered goals by Bellevue, ultimately ending the first half in a huge hole, 11-1.

The Spartans came alive again in the second, though, reviving some of that early game mojo, and they held the Wolverines nearly scoreless as Bainbridge managed to mount a slight comeback.

Down only 12-4 with about 10 minutes left in the third, the Spartans kicked it up a notch and played like it was the second.

They would manage two more goals in the final quarter, and block Bellevue at the net numerous times, before the buzzer sounded and the year ended.

Disappointed?

Of course.

Proud?

They definitely were, said Spartan offensive coach Jacob Hayashi.

“I think we won the second half,” he said. “We shut them down, and played our asses off.

“The boys fought hard until the end,” he added. “They’ve done a nice job of being able to finish games. Early in the year, we’d have a few good quarters and then kind of trail off and by the end here, the playoff run, they’re playing all four quarters really hard. That was good to see.”

Hayashi said that the Wolverines were a particularly formidable foe as they really knew how to take advantage of even momentary defensive shortcomings, and they reorganized quickly after adjustments.

There were some, he said, who would be very surprised that the Spartans hung in as well as they did.

“We shocked a lot of people,” he said of the team’s stellar season. “I think the boys always knew, but the rest of the people didn’t think we were much coming in, and in playoffs they saw we were bringing some power.”

Still, so nearly reaching the state game — it would be Bainbridge’s first time to make the championship match since 2011 — is a sting that won’t fade quickly.

“It doesn’t feel good,” Hayashi said. “It feels terrible, but knowing you fought to the end is all you can do.

“I think they’re pretty disappointed, but they should be proud of themselves. They got this far and it’s great.”

With eight seniors leaving the roster, Visco and Hayashi agreed that next year will prove a tough one for the Spartan squad, though they expect the program to continue to grow from the bottom up, as it had been in recent seasons.

“The youngsters have been great, supportive all along,” Visco said, especially noting the camaraderie of the junior players on the bench, who admittedly don’t see much field time.

“They should be playing JV league,” he said. “But we don’t have enough kids for that.”

Undeterred, the frosh were right along on this year’s ride, Hayashi agreed, and they often did more than just watch.

“We have a good freshman class coming in, so that’ll help,” he said. “The young guys have really stepped up throughout the season and they’re looking good, so I think we’ll be good.”