MERCER ISLAND – Doug Mahoney scored six goals as the Mercer Island Islanders destroyed the Bainbridge Spartans 18-3 in a non-league matchup Saturday at Mercer Island High School.
The Islanders opened up the game with a 11-0 run between the first and second quarters as the first six shots taken by Mercer went past goalie Julian Skotheim.
Mahoney scored three of his six in the run while Matthew Shields scored twice and Zach Stickney, Alex Robbs, Connor Bernal and Teddy Trimble added goals.
Head coach Ian O’Hearn admitted he was surprised that the Islanders were able to score at will on the Spartan defense.
“We weren’t expecting things to go our way in the first quarter but we’re very happy it did,” he said. “We came up with all the ground balls, we had all the shots – we kept the intensity up.”
Mahoney said the offense took advantage of the holes in the Bainbridge defense.
“They weren’t looking for the dodges up top,” he said. “We were dodging straight to the cage and they didn’t see it.”
Kaegan Ingrasci finally scored in the second quarter to stop the run, but Mahoney added two more to effectively end the game. Cameron Parker and Jacob Knostman were the only other goal scorers for Bainbridge.
Shields, Bernal, Grant Priesler and Mahoney all scored in the second half for Mercer as Bainbridge was held scoreless.
Nick Lacy said the Spartans came out flat for the game.
“They have really good shooters,” he said. “They got going. Our offense didn’t possess the ball that much. They controlled the ball on the face off and they held position. The second half we really picked it up but that first half really got us.”
Bainbridge head coach Jack Visco said the team will not dwell too long on the game.
“The blame (for the loss) is spread evenly among coaches and players,” he said. “But we’ll make some adjustments. We’re still seeded number one in our conference and we still have home field advantage for our (conference) playoffs. We’re OK.”
Mercer (16-2) hosts Lake Washington May 11 while Bainbridge (12-2) hosts Tacoma Monday.
