The Sunday Stroll

The Division I Stroll…

Mercer Island 13, Bainbridge 0 – No folks, that is not a misprint. Our game recaps only date back to 2002, but we venture to say that this is most likely the first time the Spartans have ever been SHUTOUT. We knew Mercer’s defense was good, but WOW! Realize that the Islanders had only ever beaten Bainbridge at Bainbridge once. The last time Bainbridge lost a Division I game this bad was back in the 2004 state final… to Mercer Island.
Starters for Mercer Island, Issaquah and Eastside Catholic all returned during games this week after sitting out season opening games earlier for various disciplinary reasons. Unfortunately, one player that has yet to step on the field is Lakeside’s, Sten Jernudd. Rumors are true as Jernudd is nursing a basketball injury and will be out for at least a few weeks.

Erik Risa, FR, Overlake – 20 faceoffs won, 16 groundballs in Overlake’s 14-10 defeat of Northshore
Sky Tweedie-Yates, SR, Overlake – 5 goals, 5 assists in leading the Owl’s to the win over Northshore
Hamzah Griffin, SR, Vashon – 6 goals, 2 assists in helping Vashon edge Lake Tapps, 13-12
Brandon Sims, SR, Lake Tapps – despite a rough loss to Bainbridge, Sims stood tall to make 19 saves

3/24 Curtis @ Seattle Prep – Panthers already beat one team from the south Puget Sound, can they knock off the Vikings too?
3/25 Overlake @ Bellevue – First real league test for the Wolverines. Owls hung tough with Issaquah this past week.
3/26 Lincoln vs Issaquah – Game will be played at Bellevue as part of the Northwest Invitational.
3/28 Lakeridge vs Bainbridge @ Mercer Island– Another good NWI match-up… Who is the better “bridge”?

The D2 Stroll…

Snohomish 9, Seattle Prep 7 – Less shock then the Mercer/Bainbridge game, but still a bit of a shocker and the answer to one of our questions from last week as Snohomish knocked off Seattle Prep. Truthfully, in posing the question, “Who will be the first 2009 DII team to knock of a 2009 DI team here in 2010?” we were thinking about the 2009 DII teams that had moved to DI. We were thinking more along the lines of Overlake defeating Northshore, but since Snohomish knocked off Prep the day before then I guess officially they become the true answer to the question!
Woodinville, Lake Washington, Gig Harbor and Providence each earned a program first ever victory in their first week of WHSBLA play. In fact, Lake Washington posted two wins including one over the program from which they split, Redmond.
In 2009, Garfield scored just 8 goals total in their first six games. In their first game of the 2010 season, the Bulldogs scored 9 and posted a win over Nathan Hale. Great to see them back in the win column!

Never too early to start talking playoffs right? After all, we are in the midst of March Madness. Since Kansas, Georgetown and Villanova have already destroyed plenty of brackets, here is a WHSBLA Division II Playoff Bracket for you to salivate over. Our predictions for first round playoff match-ups are in parentheses, you can fill in the rest.

Ryan Morris, JR, Providence – 10 goals, 6 assists and 22 groundballs in two games this week..
Daniel Lee, JR, Highline – 6 goals, 4 assists and 21 groundballs in beating Franklin and a tough loss to Nathan Hale.
Ben Landry, JR, South Kitsap – 22 saves and a .629 save percentage facing a barrage of shots from Klahowya.

3/23 Sammamish @ Lake Washington – Battle for 1^st place in the Evergreen Conference will take place at the old Seahawk training facility!
3/26 Snohomish @ Lynnwood – Many people believe this could be the Division II Final.

Lacrosse The Country…

Continued coverage of WHSBLA alumns in the NCAA ranks

· Shane O’Neill (Seattle Prep) and Cornell beat up on Greg Mahony (Mercer Island) and Yale. Each registered a point.

Drew Snider (Garfield) and Sam Snow (Bainbridge) each scored again as Maryland and Fairfield each posted wins on Saturday.
Caldwell Rohrbach (Garfield) and Dylan Holmes (Lakeside) are leading St. Lawrence and Oberlin respectively in scoring.

Lacrosse Four Thought…

Who are the top freshmen in the WHSBLA this season?

Which WHSBLA score has surprised you the most so far?

What are teams doing during their Spring Break?

Will any team go undefeated this season in WHSBLA play?

Parting Shots…

“I never thought that the wrestler crossover would work, but while looking for bodies to fill in for our record setting 21 graduating players, I decided to give it a try. Zach Platt, an all league wrestler, has really been turned on to lacrosse and is loving his role as a face off specialist.” -Jon Stenson, Lake Tapps Lacrosse

“Illegal body checks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. 3 minute non-releasable penalty called for foul language? Now, I am not advocating the use of foul language or poor sportsmanship, but when a player can really hurt someone with an illegal body check or use unnecessary roughness and serve a minute releasable penalty I think we need to take a second look at how penalty time is assessed.” – Jim Rambaldini

“Love the Stroll! I enjoy the high school coverage. Although I see many games, it helps keep us informed about those teams we don't see often. I also really like Lacrosse the Country. I received an e-mail from a US Lacrosse Board Member commenting on how many Northwest alums are playing NCAA Lacrosse. It is hard to keep track of the many players out there. It would be great if the Stroll could compile a comprehensive list of all of the players from the 206. It could even be a good contest to see who can name the most players and their college team. Keep up the great coverage.” – Steve Rohrbach

We’ll give a shot to the best emails of the week and include your comments/quotes/etc in next week’s Sunday Stroll.

Time to hear from you! Feed us your thoughts, edits, questions… bring it! EMAIL: TheSundayStroll@gmail.com