Having conquered Utah and Tennessee, the BHS boys lacrosse team opens a much longer and probably more difficult campaign – taking the top spot in Washington state – when it hosts Lakeside tonight at Memorial Stadium at 7:30.

The Lions fell 19-3 to Mercer Island on Tuesday.

The Spartans opened the season last Saturday at the Northwest Invitational on Mercer Island by defeating Utah state champion Bountiful 13-9.

On Sunday they edged Montgomery Bell Academy, a Tennessee semifinalist in 2008, by a score of 8-7.

“It was a great opportunity,” said coach Jack Visco. “It was a big deal and a confidence builder. A lot of kids got a lot of time they didn’t expect to, so it was a great learning experience. We got a lot of good looks at them to see who has field maturity.”

Charlie Knight scored the season’s first goal for the Spartans, with Alex Crane assisting.

Jordan Wagner scored twice, and Sam Snow and Kevin Nguyen added solo tallies as Bainbridge opened up a commanding 5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Nguyen notched his second goal early in the second quarter, then Bountiful scored twice. Nguyen countered with his third score, Cameron Parker’s goal restored the six-goal margin and defender Dugan McDermott scored on a long run just before the end of the half.

Bountiful scored the first three goals of the second half before Snow and Parker each tallied their second goals. But Bountiful had two late scores of their own to make the score 11-7 at the end of three.

Snow netted the first goal of the fourth period. After a Bountiful score, he assisted on Wagner’s third goal to up the Spartan lead to 13-8. A late Bountiful rally produced the game’s final score.

Sunday’s game was a considerably different story.

Crane opened the scoring, but Montgomery Bell quickly tied.

Snow regained the lead for the Spartans two minutes later, and an MBA score with seconds remaining in the quarter left the teams knotted at 2-2.

Bainbridge scored three goals within a two-minute span in the second quarter, the first by Nguyen and the other two by Crane, to take a 5-2 lead at halftime.

MBA opened the second half scoring, but Crane scored to briefly restore the three-goal lead.

Two more MBA goals, the second coming with just a few seconds remaining, made the score 6-5.

Crane wrapped around the goal for his fifth score of the game early in the fourth quarter, and Snow added his second tally.

Once again MBA came back, narrowing the score to 8-6 with three minutes left.

The visitors from Tennessee scored again with time running out but the Bainbridge defense held firm in the game’s final moments.