The Spartans quickly climbed back from a two-goal deficit — and then went on a second half scoring spree — to beat Eastside Catholic 20-7 in girls varsity lacrosse Tuesday at Bainbridge High.

The much-anticipated matchup was a replay of last year’s championship game, a season-ending spoiler that saw EC take the title over Bainbridge.

In the regular season rematch, however, outstanding play from the Spartans’ super scorer Mackenzie Chapman and goalie Thuy Ortiz sent the Crusaders (4-1) home with their first loss of the season.

Chapman finished with nine goals and one assist on the evening, while Ortiz had a dozen saves in goal (63.2 percent save percentage).

There were a few bright lights missing in the marquee matchup, however.

Spartan Coach Tami Tommila noted that EC was missing its starting goalie from last year’s championship game (out with a concussion), as well as two starting defenders and four senior players, in all.

“And that’s huge,” Tommila said.

Even so, EC was strong in the first half, with crisp passing, ball movement and draw controls.

“They played great as a team, especially in the first half,” Tommila said.

“They gave us problems on the draw,” she added.

“We had to make some switches and we were able to find a solution to the draw. I think we were able to — especially in the second half, come out and pull away by finishing our shots.”

Early in the game, the Spartans settled for a lot of shots from the outside.

“That’s so last year,” Tommila said.

Bainbridge adjusted in the second half by closing in on the net with stronger finishes.

There were a few adjustments, as well, to make on the defensive end to secure the win.

“Defensively, we got beat a lot by them just setting picks, popping in and getting free,” Tommila said.

The Spartans stopped overcommitting early on its double defense, to much success in the second half.

EC led just twice in the game, reclaiming the lead at the 17:00 mark in the first half, 3-2.

Maggie Sweeney scored the first of her four goals, though, to tie the game 3-all with 14:43 to play, and fellow Spartan Eleanor King put Bainbridge in front, 4-3, in little more than a minute later.

The Spartans would lead the rest of the way. Chapman then scored again 12 seconds later, and added another goal with six minutes left in the half for a 6-3 Bainbridge lead.

Bainbridge also found offense from Kendal Havill (two second-half goals), Abby Reibsamen (two goals)and Eleanor Collins (one goal).

Ortiz, of course, was also instrumental to the win.

“Thuy, she came to play,” Tommila said. “The ball looked like a beach ball.”

The coach recalled the job duties she shared with her players before the start of the game.

“‘Thuy, your job is to stop the yellow ball.’ And she’s like, ‘Got it.’”

Bainbridge improved to 6-0 with the win. Next up for the Spartans is Mercer Island (7-0), on the road, on April 18.