Vashon’s high school boys’ lacrosse team played Klahowya last Wednesday in an important league game. Klahowya is the league leader with Vashon in second. Vashon keeper Duncan McMillan is ranked second in the league with a 58 percent save rate, while Klahowya’s keeper is first at 60 percent. Next best to them is a distant 42 percent.
Kellen Riley got the team off to a good start, winning the initial faceoff, but the team was nervy early in what turned out to be an evenly matched game. It went back and forth, with outstanding saves by both keepers to keep the game in check. In the goal, McMillan stopped anything humanly possible throughout the game, notching an excellent 60 percent save rate versus about 59 percent for his opponent during this game. After a scoreless start, Vashon senior Elliot Carleton finally broke the ice and put the Vultures up 1-0 at the end of the quarter. Freshman Kiryk Mozeleski ended up with the ball out on the right side on a regular basis, though his defender constantly harrangued, harassed and set the ball free. Mozeleski had a fantastically quick spin move and shot zipping ground level to the goal, but the Klahowya keeper made an equally excellent save. Minutes later, though, Mozeleski put one in the top corner to make it 2-0 Vashon. The Vashon defense was stout. Jack Kelly played smart and cool under pressure on numerous occasions. Carson Nye was constantly moving to cut off otherwise open runs, shots or passes and won the ball for Vashon plenty of times. Freshman midfielder Adrian St Germain had a number of highlight plays in midfield and coming back on defense, arriving just in the nick of time to stop a shot or pass. Midfielders Dawit Tuller-Ross and Dylan Martinez pretty much set the bar for pace of work and toughness in this game, getting the ball up to the offense repeatedly. Carleton and Mozeleski each added one more, and it was a 4-0 lead. Klahowya tallied two goals late in the quarter to make it 4-2.
Vashon extended its lead to 5-2 when freshman defender Mason Rice made a good defensive play and gutbusting run and assist to fellow freshman Paris Brown. Klahowya then scored three in the third quarter as its defense stepped it up and made it tough for Vashon to put anything together near the goal. At quarter end it was 5 all. Nothing was easy, there were numerous scrambles at either end, and the game was intense throughout. The fans were loudly in the game. Klahowya then took the lead with just five minutes left and extended its lead to 7-5 over Vashon. The Vashon defense held, won the ball, lost it at midfield and won the ball again. With the clock starting to fade, Tuller-Ross took the team on his back, took the licking and dealt his way as he muscled past at least three dishing defenders and scored. This clearly lifted the team a bit, and after another bit of back and forth, Carleton brought the game to a tie with just over one minute remaining. Vashon won the faceoff and then in a scrum lost the ball at midfield, and somehow on a fast break a Klahowya player got open in front of the goal and put the ball in the corner, giving the keeper no chance, with only 1:16 left in the game.
Vashon had defended with intensity, but that resulted in a one minute slashing foul and playing a man down for the remainder; Klahowya held on by a fingernail to win. Klahowya will see the Vuktures again for a rematch on Wednesday, May 4, at Klahowya.
The Vultures were back in action at Stadium High School on Saturday and played the spoilers this time against a higher division school. Stadium put up a good defense and kept the game in check, scoring first. Vashon led 4-2 at half, but this time it was Vashon with a strong third quarter, extending the lead to 12-4, and then finishing with three more in the fourth quarter after a flurry of Stadium goals, making the final score 15-7. Senior Carleton scored four while freshmen Mozeleski, Brown and Calvin McMillan scored four, two and two respectively. Tuller-Ross, Max Schira and Will Mulvaney added one each to the tally.
The final home game of the season will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, against South Kitsap.
— Greg Martin is the father of two
high school athletes.
