Overlake Lacrosse Falls to Bellevue East in Overtime

Freshman Camille Sullivan scored the game winner with seven seconds to go in overtime to give first-year coach Craig Van der Horn and Bellevue East their first girls state championship Saturday with a 17–16 defeat of in the Washington Lacrosse Girls' Division II State Championship at the Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish.

The game-wining goal was the seventh of the afternoon for Sullivan and tied her season’s best seven goals in the home quarterfinal win over Bainbridge’s Division II squad. For Bellevue East, which draws students from five Bellevue high schools including Interlake, Newport and Sammamish, the title proved to be the high point in the fledgling four-year-old program’s history.

“The win feels incredible,” Van der Horn said.  “The girls kept proving to me that they could work hard."

Fatigued and besieged with basic ball handling errors in the first half after the ordeal of a triple overtime 17–16 defeat of Klahowya in Wednesday’s semifinal, Bellevue East struggled to control the ball, finally slipping behind the Owls by six on an AD Gildner goal with 7:32 remaining in the half.

“They never showed us their game in the first half,” said Overlake head coach Sue Haviland. “They have so much talent – their stick skills and vision of the field are exceptional. Two weeks ago we had two halves of that. Today, with that margin, I felt like we were playing 0–0. I wasn’t comfortable in the slightest.”

Bellevue East responded to the challenge of falling behind, delivering three of the next four goals finished off by a Paige Romney score with just four seconds remaining to narrow the gap to 1 –6 at the half. 

“They were still dealing with nerves (in the first half),” said Van der Horn, who made the switch to a controlled offense midway through the first to rebuild the confidence of this squad. “I really had a belief in the team – that they could pull this off.”

The difference was noticable.  After scoring three of the final four goals of the first half to narrow the Owls’ lead to 10–6 at the half, Bellevue East began pecking away at Overlake's lead in the second, scoring seven of the first eight goals of the half to take the lead for the first time 12–11 on an Elizabeth Soffey shot at 12:50.

The Owls rebounded with the next three back-to-back capped by Kerri Smith, who whipped a backhanded shot past Samantha Gunnerson with 7:37 remaining to take a 14–12 lead, but Bellevue East responded on three Sullivan goals over the next three minutes to take a one goal lead going into the final minute.

In the final seconds, with the game seemingly in hand, the Owls' Grace Grubb snatched a Zoe Pinczower pass and fired a shot past East goaltender Quinn Phillips with just one second remaining in regulation to force overtime.

In the first three-minute overtime half, Silverman gave Overlake a 16–15 advantage on a solo shot with 1:51 remaining. After changing sides, Kayla Miller evened the score at 16 with 2:49 remaining. East bounced several shots wide of the goal before Miller hit the winner with just seven seconds left.

Kerri Smith led the Owls with four goals and three assists while Grace Grubb, Sarah Silverman and Mariel Frank each had 3 goals. Quinn Phillips had four saves in goal for Overlake.

Overlake finished the season with a 13-2-0 record.  On the way to the state championship, the Owls finished the season winning their last seven games, including a 14–12 decision over Wenatchee and a 15–2 defeat of Mercer Island.    Once in the state tournament, the Owls went to work, notching a 19–3 quarterfinal win over Kennedy and downing Garfield 19–15 to earn a berth in the title game.

SCORING:  Bellevue East 17, Overlake 16 OT. Camille Sullivan, BE, 7 goals, 2 assists, 9 ground balls; Kayla Miller, BE, 5 goals, 1 assists; Sophie Wolz, BE, 2 goals, 3 assists, 1 ground ball; Elizabeth Soffey, BE, 1 goal, 2 ground balls; Joanna Heywood, BE, 1 goal, 4 ground balls; Paige Romney, BE, 1 goal; Samantha Gunnerson, BE, 12 saves; Kerri Smith, OV, 4 goals, 3 assists, ground balls; Grace Grubb, OV, 3 goals, 4 ground balls; Sarah Silverman, OV, 3 goals; Mariel Frank, OV, 3 goals, 1 assist, 4 ground balls; Katie Hill, OV, 1 goal, 2 assists, 2 ground balls; Zoe Pinczower, OV, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 ground balls; AD Gildner, OV, 1 goal, 1 ground ball; Quinn Phillips, OV, 4 saves

— Information submitted by the Washington chapter of U.S. Lacrosse