MID-SEASON REVIEW: No let-up in Spartan offense as girls lacrosse eyes top prize

Same as it ever was, but slightly smaller.

The Spartan girls lacrosse team started the season with the same lofty goal as ever — an appearance in the state championship game and a shot at the state title — but Bainbridge has also found itself with a diminished roster that’s put BHS in a bit of a rebuilding mode.

The number of players, overall, are down, and it’s kept the Spartans from fielding a junior varsity team this year.

Even so, Spartan Head Coach Tami Tommila said the team boasts a large number of great returners this year.

Eight seniors came back to play — team captains Truman Flynn, Olivia Peloquin, Paige Brigham and Ellen Carpenter, plus Kyra Wortley, Lauren Martin, Kelly Coffyn and Morgan Duncan — and all were projected starters.

“Which is something we haven’t been able to do in a few years, so it’s pretty awesome,” Tommila said.

At the start of this year’s campaign, after the team’s first win (a 20-3 drubbing of Kennedy on the road), Tommila said the team really hadn’t talked about its goals for the season.

For the seniors, however, the final destination was clear.

“State!,” Tommila said.

“There is an eye for us getting back to that game,” she said.

It was a dream denied last year’s squad, which advanced to the playoffs but fell short of a chance to play for the crown.

“Last year we finished tied for seventh. I use the number seven a lot to remind them where we ended up,” Tommila said. “I think they definitely want to be in a different digit than seven this year.”

Bainbridge expects to challenge this year’s event though its numbers are down. Expectations are high, though the team started the year with 23 players on its roster.

“This is the first year that we don’t have a JV team,” Tommila said, so the varsity team doesn’t have a feeder squad for developing younger players.

The gap is expected to extend through this year into next, but Tommila said the future is bright, with a large number of players under 13.

“We’ve got two 7-8 teams, we’ve got one huge 5-6 team, then a 2-4 team. There’s definitely a lot of kids coming up who want to play lacrosse,” she said.

Tommila said the team has done well on the defensive side of its play — indeed, the Spartans have held all of their opponents save Issaquah to single-digit scoring so far this year — but more work was needed on Bainbridge’s shooting and execution.

The Spartans struggled early to find their identity in the midfield, but Tommila expressed no doubts as Bainbridge prepped for another intensive year of lacrosse.

“We have a lot of people to fill those shoes, so I’m not worried about it. It’s just baby steps of us getting to where we want to be.”

Mid-season, the Spartans are looking strong. The team is tops in the Alki Conference at 5-0 (7-1 overall).

And the team’s offense has been ample so far this year — the team has posted double-digit offense in every contest, even in its only loss to defending state champs Issaquah — and the Spartans have spread the scoring around. Fourteen players have scored so far this year for BHS, with freshman Mackenzie Chapman, and juniors Sonia Olson and Robin Hilderman all leading the team in scoring, with 23 goals each. Brigham is next on the scoring list with 21 goals, but the senior standout has 21 assists, as well, and is the team points leader at 42.

The Spartans are entering the tough part of their schedule, with a road game against Lake Sammamish (7-1) at Marymoor Park on April 24 and a following home game against Lakeside (5-2) on April 29.

Bainbridge will face off against the Lions and a familiar old foe, Jamie Asaka, who is back at Lakeside as head coach. Asaka is a U.S. Lacrosse Hall-of-Famer who previously guided the Lions to six state championships and was named the 2010 Washington high school girls coach of the year.

“That just changes everything, I think,” Tommila said.

Other teams — Snohomish, Bellevue East and Roosevelt — also have new coaches this year, so the playoffs pose plenty of possibilities.

“I think that this year is wide open on who can be in that final game,” Tommila said.

“I think that the kids are really excited and thinking they can be part of it,” she said.

Spartan girls lacrosse

Wednesday, April 22

Puyallup at Bainbridge

Friday, April 24

Away vs. Lake Sammamish

Wednesday, April 29

Lakeside at Bainbridge

Friday, May 1