Caption:  Bellevue’s Ryan Deal (right) is embraced by a team-mate following his game winner with 1:50 remaining in overtime to give the Wolverines an 8 – 7 victory over previously undefeated Mercer Island for their first state lacrosse championship in 19 years.  Photo Courtesy:  Sue Larkin

May 29, 2010

Boys Division I – Washington State Lacrosse Championships

Deal’s OT winner gives Bellevue first boys lacrosse title in 19 years

SEATTLE – Senior Ryan Deal scored with 1:50 remaining in overtime to give Bellevue its first state lacrosse title in 19 years in an 8 – 7 win over Mercer Island, Saturday before 2,650 in attendance at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium.  With the win, Bellevue handed the Islanders their first loss in 22 starts this season and their first victory over the Islanders since 2002.

Deal’s game winner came on a hitch that pulled Islander defender Trevor Reed off the play. “I ran a hitch and it made him fall for it,” said Deal after his first game-winning goal of the season. “It feels amazing, but we’re a family and without a 100 percent effort from the rest of the team, this was nothing.”

The sudden death period was set up as Wolverine’s midfielder Eric Omri beat Islanders goaltender Hap Giraud with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to knot the game at 7 and send the Boys Division I final into a 4-minute sudden-death overtime.

Omri’s goal 4 minutes earlier began Bellevue’s improbable run from a 2-goal deficit to snatch the state title.”I hit one and got and just kept shooting,” said Omri who had 3 goals and a ground ball in the game. “It was scary down two (goals). We’ve been there before and we knew we could run with them.”

As overtime began, Bellevue coach John Baumann signaled for an illegal string in the netting of the Islander Connor Beckwith’s stick giving the senior defender a 1-minute penalty. Despite the man advantage, the Wolverines were unable to score, but the penalty helped set the tone in the overtime period. “I thought (Beckwith’s webbing) was deep in the third quarter, but I new I couldn’t use it then,” said Wolverine coach John Baumann.

The Islanders struck first as Doug Mahony beat Wolverine goaltender Austin Boyd to give MI the 1 – 0 advantage. Deal and Omri responded with a goal apiece to to give the Wolverines an early 3 – 1 lead. Jonathan Wettack added another goal for MI two minutes later to briefly knot the game at 2 until Cole Nordstrom put Bellevue up by one with a shot at 1:45 remaining in the first.

In the second, Bellevue’s Brett Mennella struck first giving Bellevue a 4 – 2 lead, but the Islanders battled back with goals by Connor Bernal and Wettack to knot the game at 4 going into the intermission.

The Islanders outscored Bellevue 2 -0 in the third behind goals by Colton Knebel, before Bellevue’s Brett Mennella scored on a man-advantage situation in the fourth for the first of the Wolverines 3 goals to set up sudden death.

About High School Lacrosse in Washington State

Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the U.S. and in Washington State the sport has seen double-digit growth in six of the last eight years. In 2010, over 2,700 high school students representing 83 boys (www.WHSBLA.org) and 55 girls (www.WSLAX.org) varsity and jv teams in eastern and western Washington compete in a nine-week season March – May. The annual Boys and Girls Washington State High School Championships take place in late May.

For daily high school lacrosse results or to receive results through an RSS feed, please visit http://media.uslax-wa.org/

BOYS DIVISION I SCORING

Bellevue 3 1 0 3 1 – 8

Mercer Island 2 2 2 1 0 -- 7

SCORING HIGHLIGHTS: Bellevue 8, Mercer Island 7 (OT) (Bellevue wins Division I state championship) (Eric Omri, B, 3 goals, 1 ground ball; Brett Mennella, B, 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 ground balls; Ryan Deal, B, 2 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Cole Nordstrom, B, 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 ground balls; Andrew Gulrajani, B, 1 ground ball; Alex Mennella, B, 5 ground balls; Dan Ellis, B, 1 ground balls; James Seely, B, 1 ground balls; Sam Leggett, B, 1 ground ball; John Drayton, B, 1 ground balls; Clayton Federspeil, B, 1 ground ball; Austin Boyd, B, 9 saves; John Wettack, MI, 2 goals, 5 ground balls; Colton Knebel, MI, 2 goals; Connor Bernal, MI, 1 goal, 1 ground balls; Matt Shields, MI, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; Doug Mahony, MI, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; T. Claes Johnson, MI, 1 assist; Spencer Tierney, MI, 7 ground balls; Teddy Trimble, MI, 1 ground balls; Steven Taylor, MI, 2 ground balls; TJ Blackburn, MI, 1 ground ball; Connor Beckwith, MI, 3 ground balls; Trevor Reed, MI, 2 ground balls; Ryan Blumenstein, MI, 1 ground ball; Connor Rafety, MI, 1 ground ball; Hap Giraud, MI, 8 saves)

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