There was no doubt in girls lacrosse coach Tami Tommila’s mind about the crucial moment in Friday’s season-opening 8-7 home loss to defending state champion Lakeside.

A three-goal blitz in slightly over a minute just before halftime had given Bainbridge a 5-1 lead, but Lakeside scored with 11 seconds showing on the clock.

“That was the turning point,” Tommila said. “We needed to come out in the second half and dictate the pace, but that was what Lakeside did instead.”

The Lions scored just 14 seconds into the second half, and after finally tying the score with eight minutes remaining, scored the eventual winning goal with 24 seconds left. Bainbridge had one final opportunity, but couldn’t convert a penalty situation with seven seconds left.

“The girls took it pretty hard,” Tommila said. “But I told them that we get to play them again, and hopefully we’ll get some redemption.”

The game remained scoreless for nearly 10 minutes before Christen Faltermaier picked up a ball that the Lakeside goalie didn’t clear and passed to Caitlin Holliday for Bainbridge’s first goal of the season.

Three and a half minutes later Jen Utley made it 2-0. After Lakeside finally got on the board with two and a half minutes remaining, Holliday, Caitlin Kiley and Mikal Hemingway scored in quick succession to make the score 5-1. But the late Lakeside goal gave the Lions the momentum going into the second half.

The only Bainbridge goals during that time came within a minute of each other midway through the half, as Hemingway converted a penalty and Faltermaier scored after taking a pass from Kiley.

Bainbridge had a flurry of scoring opportunities at the five-minute mark, but couldn’t convert any and Lakeside controlled the rest of the game.

“The game is over and we have to move on,” said Tommila. “This is going to be a very competitive year.

“The bigger issue is how we are going to deal with momentum switches. Lakeside came out in the second half, scored a quick goal and kept applying pressure. They had more on the line because they’re the defending state champs, and we couldn’t match their desire.

“Intensity is something a lot of our players aren’t used to. We have to learn to stay focused for 50 minutes.”

Noting that Bainbridge took 30 shots and made only seven, Tommila added that “we had our chances to the very end. We took the loss as a team, and we’ll bounce back as a team.”

The squad faced a busy week on the road, playing the Panthers yesterday, traveling to Overlake today (a game originally scheduled to be played here on Friday), then facing Holy Names tomorrow.

The Holy Names game offers an early opportunity for redemption, as the Cougars edged then-undefeated Bainbridge in the semi-finals of last year’s state championships.

Five to nationals

Five Bainbridge girls – Paulina Blackinton, Mehgan Colkitt, Christen Faltermaier, Caitlin Kiley and Jen Utley – were selected as members of the Pacific Northwest regional lacrosse team that will play in a national tournament in Pennsylvania during Memorial Day weekend.

More than 40 girls competed for the 18 available slots during a five-hour workout on Saturday in Tacoma that was conducted in heavy snow and rain.