This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Boys Lacrosse Visit Eastlake to Begin 2011 Season

Twelve seniors return from last year's State runner-up squad. Accustomed to success, the Boys Lacrosse team has played in every State Tournament since 1999.

Mercer Island Lacrosse Varsity Coach Ian O'Hearn returns for his 10th year at the helm of a dynasty that seems to know no end. 

The Islanders return in 2011 with a seasoned team that includes 12 returning seniors with a significant offensive threat. According to US Lacrosse, Matt Shields and Doug Mahoney combined for 59 goals during the 2010 regular season (24 and 21) and 14 assists (7 each).

The season starts this Wednesday, March 16, 7:30pm at Eastlake (JV 6 p.m.). The first home contest is Friday, March 18, 8:30pm v. Mukilteo (JV 6:30 p.m.).

Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While not many players were lost to graduation last year, most of these were significant contributors to the Islander defense. Four 2010 graduates were named to the All State 1st Team, three of these were defensive players:  Jon Wettack (M), Connor Raffety (D), Connor Beckwith (D) and Hap Giroud (G). 

That could by why WALAX (Washington Association of Lacrosse) puts Mercer Island 4th behind Issaquah (1), Bainbridge Island (2) and Bellevue (3) in their season preview. But WALAX also concedes that these teams are so close that the top 5 teams will "slug it out from start to finish."

Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Islanders will be looking for redemption this year after a disappointing overtime loss to Bellevue in the 2010 State Championship. Mercer Island was called for a stick violation, giving Bellevue possession and the advantage going into the sudden-death overtime, where they scored first. The Islanders had undefeated sesasons in both 2009 and 2010, losing the State Championship each year by one goal (Issaquah 2009).

In addition to Mahoney and Shields, returners to watch are defenseman Ryan Blumenstein, and middies Colton Knebel and Connor Bernal.

MI Boys Lacrosse hosts their annual Northwest Invitational Tournament March 25-27. Nine teams will attend from out of state, including two from Canada, in addition to five local teams, according to board president Phil Robbs. You can watch the Islanders at the MIHS stadium on March 24 at 8 p.m. (Lakeridge),  March 26, 8 p.m. (Sunset) and March 27, 2 p.m. (Lincoln). For Spring Break, the varsity team travels to Vancouver, Washington to play King's Way and Oregon Episcopal School before heading to Massachusetts where they match up with Duxbury, Concorde-Carlisle and Lincoln-Sudbury. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Mercer Island