Overlake Notes:
The weatherman threatened a rainy and cold night, but the Gig Harbor players and fans delivered a dry and very pleasant evening for some exciting lacrosse.

Overlake’s first impression of the Gig Harbor team was “Big”; Big players and lots of them which is a testament of how fast the sport of lacrosse is growing in Gig Harbor and Washington State as a whole. What Overlake would find out after the game started was how fast this team was too. Playing a big & fast opponent usually means you’ll have your hands full and that was the case for the Owls this Friday night. In the end, Overlake pulled out a 13-7 victory, but as is often the case; the score doesn’t tell the real story of the game.

The outcome of this game was decided at the face off X with Overlake winning an astounding 91% (20 of 22) of the draws. Had that number been more even, the score of the game might have been very different.

Junior Midfielder Eric Risa had a career game winning 16 of 17 face-off’s, picking up 19 ground balls, scoring 3 goals and helping with 3 assists for a game high 6 offensive points. Kinori Rosnow won 4 out of 5 of his face-off’s, added a goal and two assists along with tenacious hustle that netted 10 groundballs. Overlake’s swift and stealthy sniper Curtis Yokoyama found the net 3 times and assisted with one other.

Overlake’s front line attackers, who had scored all 13 goals against Redmond, were slowed considerably by Gig Harbor’s tough and physical defensive unit. Junior Barrett Jenness had 4 goals and picked up 4 ground balls while Frost Cunningham had 1 goal and 1 assist with Colton Umberger adding another goal. Not a bad night for the Owl attackers but credit goes to the Gig Harbor defense who kept the pressure on all night. Overlake’s offensive balance allowed them to spread the shots around to all their players which was perhaps the other key to the game.

The Overlake defense played very well again this game despite having senior long pole Kevin Sample sidelined with an injury and being outsized in 5 of 6 defensive match-ups. Stepping up to fill that sizable gap was sophomore defender Charley Drake and freshmen Tucker Lutz and Mason Easley who were able to contribute solid minutes under the leadership of senior captain Bryce Remington giving the upper classmen some needed breathers. Seniors Jackson Gartman and Luke Marcoe along with Remington used their quickness and cagey slide packages to frustrate Gig Harbor’s powerful offense. Junior Attack Cody Olsen from Peninsula HS is the kind of player that no one can really stop, but Overlake was successful in at least slowing him down in this contest.

Look for Gig Harbor to be playing in the post season so these two teams could possibly meet again. Now that everybody knows each other, a rematch will be fun to watch...