Schlesser, Walk lead the way on a cold night, improve to 4-0.

On a day when the weather was more suited for a football game in November, the Bainbridge girls lacrosse team weathered several scoring storms to defeat the two-time defending state champions in Lakeside 17-13 Wednesday night.

The Spartans also defeated Mercer Island 12-6 on Thursday thanks to four goals apiece from Lucy Schlesser and Mariah Walk.

Head coach Tami Tommila was happy with how the team responded against Lakeside under the bad weather and the persistent attack of the Lions.

“They rode the ebb and flow really well,” she said. “I thought we were in control in the first half but it was just a half and they would come back in the second half, and they did.

“The best thing was that the girls settled things down on the field, which is great because that showed our poise and confidence.”

Senior co-captain Natalie Evans was excited to get the win over their arch-rival.

“It just feels good to beat the state champions from last year,” she said. “We had one of our main starters (Sydney Whitaker) out due to injury so Kate Sciacca replaced her and she was fabulous.”

Sally Baumgartner got the scoring started when she forced a turnover and fed Evans for the score.

Morgan Merriman tied it up a minute later, but Bainbridge reeled off three straight goals – two by Schlesser, one by Walk – to take control of the game.

Lakeside countered with a 3-1 run, but Jaclyn Biggers, Evans and Harmon scored off assists from Harmon, Baumgartner and Schlesser, respectively, to take a 9-5 lead into halftime.

Evans and Walk combined to score two goals to open the half, but the Lions began taking control of the draw and scored five straight to pull within one.

That’s when Tommila called for the team to stall – a set play where Evans stayed just within the boundary line of the playing area and held the ball for a minute and a half.

When a Lakeside defender finally came up to take on Evans, she strode towards the goal, then made a nice pass to a cutting Schlesser for the score.

“(When we stall) we don’t do anything until they pressure us,” Evans said. “We got ‘em.”

“We needed to breathe,” Tommila said of calling for the stall. “That was the purpose of it and to see how they (Lakeside) would react to it. It really was to give our legs a rest.

“They videoed it though, so we might not use it again.”

That was enough to get the Spartans going again, as Schlesser, Emily Ross and Walk scored to open the gap.

Even when one of Evans’ goals was taken away on a yellow card for an illegal follow through, Schlesser and Baumgartner scored late in the game to ensure the Lions wouldn’t make a comeback.

Many of the goals came off of free position shots due to Lakeside penalties, which the team works on in practice “a good portion of the time,” said Evans.

“It’s a real tense situation,” Tommila said. “It’s really intimidating being inside that fan and having those defenders on either side of you and you’re in front of the goal. So we work on that a lot.”

With the win, Evans hopes the team “doesn’t get cocky… but we needed this,” she said.

Schlesser led all scorers with seven points off of six goals and one assist.

Evans finished with five points off of three goals and two assists. She also had two ground balls and three draw controls.

Baumgartner had four points, scoring a goal and three assists. She also had four ground balls and two draw controls.

Bainbridge will take spring break off, then return to action April 9 against Seattle Prep.