Spartans are 4-0 on the year as they work toward another state title.

After a heartbreaking loss that left them one game short of a state title, the Bainbridge boys’ lacrosse team is back with what many feel is their best team in years.

Assistant coach Dejon Hush said they feel the same way.

“We have one more year of experience,” he said. “Last year we were pretty young, so this year the majority of this team is juniors with a couple of sophomores and a couple of seniors mixed in.”

That experienced talent has contributed to another stellar start, as the Spartans have gone 4-0 on the year with big wins over Mercer Island on the road March 16 and against Garfield last Friday.

“We’re a pretty mature team,” Hush said. “A lot of kids have played varsity for a couple of years, so hopefully that maturity will push us over.”

Last season the Spartans went undefeated for most of the season as they scored big wins over talented teams such as Issaquah and Mercer Island at home, the latter being their first win over their rival in three years.

But they lost just two games – both to the Islanders.

One was at Mercer Island, the other a state semifinal game at home that kept the Spartans from the championship game for the second straight year.

This year, they’re undefeated so far with a mark of 4-0.

Junior defender/midfielder Dayton Gilbreath said they’re more comfortable with each other now than ever.

“We’re looking good,” he said. “We’re working as a team. We have no real stars, so everyone’s working together. It’s pretty much our seventh/eighth grade team that won a championship that’s playing right now.”

Bainbridge lost nine seniors from last year’s team, but several players have returned to lead the team back to the title game.

Those returners include seniors and co-captains in midfielder Fiore Alailima, defender Bryan Gilbreath and attacker Dylan Masi.

Also returning for Bainbridge are senior midfielder Clayton Knight, senior goalkeeper Patrick McMullen, Dayton Gilbreath, junior midfielder Garret Lund, junior midfielder Max Olson, junior defender Trent Burroughs and sophomore goalkeeper Bryce Stevenson.

Dayton said they’ll be much improved from last year.

“We had a lot of people work hard in the offseason,” he said.

Alailima agreed.

“Our defense is a lot better than last year,” he said. “They’re doing a lot better than I’ve ever seen them play.”

That has shown in their wins, as the Bainbridge defense has allowed double digits just once – against Mercer Island.

He also felt the maturity level of the team had been raised as well.

“Most of the players felt that we could go all the way (last year) but there were some people that were kind of sketched about it,” he said. “This year we have a lot more confidence in ourselves.”

That maturity was evident against the Bulldogs in the first home game of the season.

Garfield’s Danny Hoffman scored the first goal of the game while Bainbridge wasn’t in sync for much of the first quarter, as they couldn’t connect with each other on passes or get their offense going.

“We’re still a little sloppy with the basics,” Hush said.

Finally with 21 seconds left, sophomore attacker Sam Deery-Schmidt put one in to get the zero off the board.

In the second quarter, Masi stepped up with two goals and an assist to sophomore midfielder Ross Cobb.

Caldwell Rohrbach scored for Garfield, but senior midfielder Casey Skelton scored the last goal of the quarter by working his way through five defenders to put one in.

In the third, Olson went off, scoring a hat trick on three straight goals to give Bainbridge a cushion.

Masi and Alailima also scored to keep the Spartans ahead while the defense did their job, denying the Bulldogs any good looks at the goal.

The fourth was more of the same, with Masi scoring two more times and Bryan Gilbreath, Alailima and junior midfielder Jordan Foster adding goals to ensure the win.

The balanced attack, improved defense and the strong play of Stevenson – he made his first varsity start in goal against Mercer Island last season – are the big keys to getting Bainbridge back to the title game.

“Our first 10 guys are athletic,” Hush said. “They can fly up and down the field and that’s a huge strength for us. We don’t have one guy that defenses can tee up on, but we have four or five guys that on any one night can step up and be the man for us and score a lot of goals.”

Hush said they’ll get a boost from several sophomores, such as Deery-Schmitt and Cobb, among others, who have great shots.

“They’ve stepped up and filled in some good shoes (of former players) as backups and pushed some of the older kids,” he said. “They are great shooters and that’s a huge asset. We haven’t seen shooters like that in a couple of years.”

They’ll need them in a league that has some tough teams, most notably the three-time state champs the Islanders.

While Alailima admitted that he’s “worried” about Mercer Island, he also felt the team has what it takes to get a title.

“It’s been a while,” he said. “We really want it this year.”

Hush felt the same way, whether they go through Mercer or not.

“We want to win every game and look polished in our style,” he said. “We don’t want to play down to any team and we want to make teams play our game.”

Bainbridge plays Skyline at 7:30 p.m. April 10.