Revenge? Repayment? Redemption?

Not so much. But a crucial win in a simmering rivalry? Let there be no doubt.

The Bainbridge Spartans upended Issaquah 17-11 Wednesday in girls lacrosse at Memorial Stadium in a rematch of last year’s state championship battle.

Unlike last year’s fight for the crown, however, Bainbridge came out on top after rebounding from an early one-goal deficit and weathering a second-half comeback by the defending state champs.

It was an intense game on both sides of the ball throughout the contest.

But Bainbridge Coach Tami Tommila said the Spartans weren’t going to let the game be overshadowed by last year’s marquee matchup between the two storied programs.

“I kept saying to the kids, ‘You know, this is game seven for us.’ This is Issaquah’s 2016 team. This is not their state championship team,” Tommila said.

“And we’re not the runner-up team from last year; they’re in college,” she said, referring to the loss of eight seniors from last year’s standout Spartan squad to graduation.

“We tried to keep it small and tried to keep it just about this one game, with our goal of wanting to be undefeated to go into playoffs so we have home field advantage,” she said.

It worked -— and did it ever. Bainbridge picked up its seventh straight victory of the year with the win.

“It was just good for us to play a high level game against a great competitor,” Tommila said. “And to have an opportunity to have our younger team play against a program that has had great success, and to measure ourselves. And I think we really got to do that.”

Issaquah, which has won the state title two years in a row, also fielded a team with a retrofitted roster. Tommila noted that Issaquah Coach Penny Moss also lost eight players from last year’s title team to graduation.

“It’s kind of more where we lost our players and where she lost her players; she lost her defenders, we lost our attackers. So we’re both kind of rebuilding right now,” the Bainbridge coach said.

“I thought it was just a great effort on both teams. It’s always fun to play them,” she added.

Even so, Issaquah did enjoy some experience on their side.

“They still have a lot of players, especially on the attacking side, from their state championship team,” Tommila noted, as well as two players with two state championships under their belts, including Issaquah goalie Katie Earlie.

Spartan Sonia Olson led the Bainbridge offense with five goals.

Maggie Sweeney, Mackenzie Chapman and Amy Willerford had three goals each for BHS and Willerford had an assist. Sophia Hagstromer chipped in two goals and two assists, while Robin Hilderman had one goal and two assists and Karsen Sahleen had two assists. Chapman also had five draws.

The game had a frantic feel at times. There were multiple caused turnovers and ground balls, and the fight for draws was nearly even with Bainbridge collecting 14 and Issaquah, 13.

Thuy Lan Ortiz, Bainbridge’s freshman goalie, had 11 goalie saves for a 50 percent save ratio while Earlie had seven saves (23 percent save ratio) in the goal for Issaquah.

“Our goalie was phenomenal in the second half. She really, really was,” Tommila said. “Almost a little bit like their goalie was when she was a freshman.

“She played on fire. I couldn’t ask a freshman to do more. I was really proud of her,” she added.

Hannah Maroni also came up big for Bainbridge with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.

Sweeney, who finished with six draws in addition to her hat trick, said the Spartans worked hard to prepare for Issaquah.

“We worked as a team; it was really a team effort. They’re a really good team,” Sweeney said of Issaquah, “and I think there was respect from both sides.”

The game marked the third time the home team has won in the Bainbridge-Issaquah rivalry.

Good thing, too, as it preserved Coach Tommila’s amazing streak of never having a team lose twice to the same opponent at home.

Issaquah was led by Nicole Victory, who had three goals and three assists, and Hannah Meier, who also split the posts three times for a hat trick.