Bellevue Boys Down Eastside Catholic, Return to Lacrosse State Championship Game

Bellevue built on a narrow half-time lead to score nine second-half goals to advance to the Division I Washington Lacrosse Boys State Championship Game with a 12-6 defeat of Eastside Catholic, Wednesday at Bellevue High School.
 
In their only meeting of the season and a rematch of last year’s state championship also won by the Wolverines, the regular-season King West Conference champions’ offense kicked into gear in the second outscoring the Crusaders 3-2 in the third and then pouring-on six fourth-quarter goals to give the Wolverines their 18th all-time berth in a boys state championship game and its third in the last five years.
 
Bellevue, now at 20-2-0 on the season, bounced back from a game-opening score by the Crusaders’ Jarret Toy with Dakota Jones locking-up the contest at 1-1 entering the second quarter.
 
Eastside Catholic again edged ahead early in the second on a Blake Lee goal at 9:57 before the Wolverines’ Cole Johnson and Hank Bethke hit back-to-back scores in the final three minutes of play to give Bellevue a 3-2 half-time lead.
 
With momentum shifting Bellevue emerged from the break with goals by Eric Haehl and Dakota Jones just a minute apart to give the Wolverines their largest lead of the night at 5-2.
 
Eastside Catholic responded on a Lee goal at 5:35 to narrow the gap to 5-3 but was quickly answered just 31 seconds later by Johnson’s second of the night to make it 6-3.  The Crusaders’ finished the quarter on Lee’s second to narrow the gap to 6-4.
 
In the fourth, it was all Bellevue as Bethke launched the first two of six fourth-quarter goals by the Wolverines to put the game away.
 
The Wolverines were led by Johnson with four goals and an assist for five points and Bethke who tallied three goals and two assists, also for five.  Goaltender Bradley Medeiros had seven saves in the win.
 
With the win, Bellevue will attempt to defend its 2012 state title as it takes on rival Mercer Island in Saturday’s Washington Lacrosse Boys State Championship Game on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Seattle.
 
Eastside Catholic, which finished on top of the Division I Metro Conference, finished its season with a 13-3-0 record.  The Crusaders were led by Colin MacIlvennie with a goal and three assists, while blake Lee had three goals.  Goaltender Colin Schriever had seven saves in the loss.
 
Scoring
1 2 3 4    F
Eastside Catholic
1 1 2 2 -- 6
Bellevue
1 2 3 6 -- 12

Game Summary
Bellevue 12, Eastside Catholic 6 – Bellevue advances to Division I state championship game (Cole Johnson, B, 4 goals, 1 assist, 2 ground balls; Hank Bethke, B, 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 ground ball; Dakota Jones, B, 2 goals, 1 ground ball; Eric Haehl, B, 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 ground ball; Hunter Lien, B, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; Joe Finnell, B, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; Simon Jenkin, B, 1 assist, 3 ground ball; Andrew Matthews, B, 3 ground balls; Bradley Medeiros, B, 7 saves; Jarrett Toy, EC, 2 goals; Colin MacIlvennie, EC, 1 goal, 3 assists, 5 ground balls; Blake Lee, EC, 3 goals, 2 ground balls; Arend Broekmate, EC, 5 ground balls; Cole Ivanoff, EC, 3 ground balls; Henry Jarvis, EC, 3 ground balls; Colin Schriever, EC, 7 saves)