On Thursday, May 9, the Mercer Island Girls Lacrosse team was victorious against the Woodinville High School Falcons. With this win at a score of 14-8, the Islanders stand at a record of 13 wins to 1 loss.
“We originally had played Woodinville later on in the season so we had played them recently, and we kind of knew what we were coming up against for this game,” sophomore Sophia Kinkead said.
The last time the Islanders played the Falcons, they won 16-9.
“[Woodinville has] a really good player that we face guarded that a lot of us are friends with. It made it fun but it was also a lot of pressure on our defense,” senior captain Amelie Schmid said. “Luckily we played well and took a lot of energy from each other and the crowd.”
Many came in support of the Islanders, sporting maroon and white as they enthusiastically cheered the names of players. Similarly, many wore green in support of the Falcons, often shouting encouraging messages to players. The divide between the bleachers was clear—on the left, clapping ensued when the Islanders scored—on the right, when the Falcons scored.
“They’re a good team, well-coached, and we knew it was gonna be a good competition,” Kinkead said.
Only four minutes into the game, the Islanders scored their first point, followed by yet another within the next minute. Woodinville hung onto the ball for a bit until it was scooped up by senior Erica Kierstead who proceeded to score. Then with 0:32.8 left of the first quarter, the Falcons made their first goal, closing the game’s first twelve minutes with a score of 3-1.
“I think the prep that we did in practice in regards to our defense, our attack and our draw squad, it went pretty well throughout the game,” Kinkead said. “There were some hiccups but … we worked as a team and the result came in our favor.”
Two minutes into the second quarter, the Falcons scored their second point. Almost four minutes later, they scored again, evening the tally to 3-3. Just 19 seconds later, the Islanders tipped the scale to 4-3. Then with one minute left of the second quarter, they scored once again for a score of 5-3.
During halftime, the teams rallied in preparation for the next 24 minutes of playtime. The Islanders came back even stronger.
“Our defense absolutely crushed, and our draw squad did really well,” Kinkead said.
In the third quarter, the Islanders showed exactly why they’ve had such a strong record. As anticipated, the Islanders continued their trend towards victory. The Islanders scored only a minute in, then twice more within just three minutes of the first goal. Then with 6:27 minutes remaining, the Falcons made their first score of the third quarter, changing the score to 9-4. The Islanders scored twice more in the next three minutes.
The Falcons tried to score, but the ball ricocheted off the frame. With 1:41 left, the Falcons made a successful goal. They proceeded to make their next goal with only 0:01.8 remaining, the scoreboard reading 11-6.
In the final quarter, the Islanders scored three more times, finishing strong and maintaining their defense. On the Woodinville side of the stadium, words of encouragement were exclaimed as the team scored two goals in their final push—the last two minutes. Despite the Falcons’ efforts, the Islanders’ victory was sealed.
Advancing to the semifinals, the Islanders are up against Seattle Academy on Tuesday, May 14.
“SAAS is a very strong team and they’re always fun to play… I’m hoping a lot of fans will be there, and the energy will be high, because that’s when we play best,” Schmid said.
Be there at 5:30 p.m. at Starfire!
