Bainbridge outlasts Lions in state quarterfinal thriller

Published 4:36 pm Wednesday, May 13, 2015

It wasn’t revenge, and it wasn’t a grudge match.

Just call it great lacrosse.

Paige Brigham scored six goals — including a pair in the game’s final minutes to answer a late Lions comeback — as Bainbridge beat Lakeside 16-12 in a girls lacrosse state quarterfinals playoff thriller at Memorial Stadium Monday.

The Lions, coming in ranked at No. 10, bore no resemblance to the team that fell to the No. 2 Spartans 16-2 at the close of the regular season. The game was tied three times, and there were three lead changes, in the first half as the evenly matched teams traded blows.

“That was a Lakeside-Bainbridge lacrosse game. We should have charged people to watch that,” said Bainbridge Coach Tami Tommila.

Bainbridge got on the board first as Robin Hilderman split the pipes with the first of her three goals at the 24:10 mark.

Casey Clarke answered for Lakeside less than two minutes later to tie the game at 1-all.

Sonia Olson put the Spartans back ahead, 2-1, as Bainbridge capitalized on a 3-second violation by the Lions.

The lead didn’t last long, as Avery Frankenberg scored roughly a minute later to even the score again at 2-2 with 19:08 left to play in the half.

Two minutes and change later, Lakeside retook the lead and then went up, 4-2, after Clarke’s second goal of the evening. Her teammates started dancing on the sidelines as Spartan fans sat in stunned silence.

The dance party was short-lived, however, as the Spartans battled back and took a 5-4 lead after Hilderman’s goal at 11:38.

The Lions evened the contest once again at the 6:49 mark, but freshman Mackenzie Chapman put the Spartans back in front to stay, 6-5, with her first goal of the night a minute and a half later.

The night was far from over, though. Bainbridge led 8-5 at the break, and Chapman helped push the Spartans to 13-7, their largest lead of the night.

Lakeside never quit, though, and scored three goals over the span of two minutes. The last of them, a goal by Leah Druker, her fourth, cut Bainbridge’s advantage to 14-12 with 5:29 left to play.

Loose balls also seemed to be going the Lions’ way all night. Lakeside had twice as many ground balls as Bainbridge, with 16, and slightly more draw controls (15 to 14) and had nine caused turnovers to the Spartans’ 2.

In the end, it was one of the Spartans’ eight seniors who stepped up to stop the surge from Lakeside.

Brigham broke the Lions’ scoring streak with a momentum-killing goal at the 4:40 mark and the Spartans kept Lakeside scoreless the rest of the way to earn the win.

“This was a great opportunity for us to play a game like that now,” Coach Tommila said. “It just doesn’t get any easier when you go to semifinals or to state. You’ve got to be able to ride those different emotions and stay together. And they did to the end. I was proud of them.”

And the other side, as well. Tommila made her way over to the Lions sideline and gave out plenty of consolatory hugs after the game.

“Our Lakeside friends, the seniors, are hurting right now. And we know what that’s like because we had seniors last year and it’s exactly what happened. We got knocked out by them in the playoffs. That was really hard for our kids,” she said.

“Today’s game wasn’t about revenge or anything like that,” Tommila added. “It was just about a new beginning for this team in the playoffs.”

With the win, Bainbridge advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals for a home matchup against Eastside Catholic. The Crusaders beat Puyallup 20-8 in the opening round and rousted Roosevelt 13-5 in the quarterfinals.

The loss ended Lakeside’s season.

“One team has to lose, and one team is going to win. And we knew that,” Tommila said. “But we wanted to make sure it was going to be us winning tonight.”

“I’m just proud of them for staying the course,” she said of her Spartans. “It was just a hard-fought game. Both teams really wanted it. And it showed. It was a really great lacrosse game.”

Paige finished with six goals and four assists.

Chapman added four goals, an assist and four draw controls.

Hilderman scored a hat trick and added two ground balls and a draw control.

Olson also scored three times and added three assists.

Also coming up big for Bainbridge was Hannah Maroni, who had three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover.

Clarke and Drucker led the Lions with four goals each.

The Spartans face No. 3 Eastside Catholic at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 13 at Memorial Stadium in state semifinals game. A win will send Bainbridge to the championship game for the first time since 2012.

The Crusaders have a 13-game winning streak entering tonight’s game. EC lost its season opener against defending state champ Issaquah 9-3.