Nine out of the last 10 times, the maroon or white jerseys belonging to the Mercer Island boys lacrosse team have appeared in the Division I lacrosse state championships. This year’s team doesn’t see any reason to change things up this spring.

The Islanders, who haven’t won the championship since 2006, are primed and ready to lift the trophy this year, returning 14 members of last year’s squad, all of whom are longtime players.

Early in the season the team was up 7-0, not entirely unusual for a program that ended last year with just one loss — the overtime loss to Bellevue in the state title game. Any bitterness that may have been left over from that loss was eased further away on March 31, with the Islanders’ 8-6 win over Bellevue.

Aiding this success, so far, is the strength at midfield for the Islanders.

“Our midfield — we have a very deep midfield — compared to most teams in the state,” said head coach Ian O’Hearn of the team’s strengths. “Everybody has one, maybe two, really strong impact players at midfield. We have four. That was the difference all weekend (in the Northwest Invitational tournament).”

During the Northwest Invitational, which the Islanders hosted, the team beat all of its opponents, including the top three state finishers from Oregon last spring. Last week the Islanders took on Bellevue in the team’s first league test of the season and this week are playing some of the top teams in the country in Boston during the Mercer Island spring break.

Despite the strong start, O’Hearn said they are still working things out and gaining their experience of the season.

“Everything needs a little more development and a little more game time for experience, but I think we’re pretty deep in all positions and feeling pretty confident, and now we just need to get more playing time and dial in the systems,” he said. “The games that we’ve played so far that were closer than they should have been were because of our mistakes, like unforced errors.”

The spring 2011 team is captained by Ryan Boumenstein, Colton Knebel, Connor Bernal and Doug Mahony.

“We’re working on playing a perfect game and playing to our potential,” said Boumenstein.

Of course, with a record like the Islanders have, the captains expect an appearance at state. While that’s a major goal this year, they also see themselves as more of a team unit than perhaps in the past.

“We’re more together as a team,” said Mahony, with Bernal adding there is a great atmosphere around the team this spring.

“We’ve been in nine of the last 10 state championships, so obviously our goal is to win the state championship,” said O’Hearn. “I think as a coaching staff, we learned a lot from last year and made some changes at the administration level. We’re really excited about this group of kids. All 20 of them are very talented and are very good kids. They are hard workers and we’re just excited.”

The team’s trip to Boston will provide another early season marker of how the team is faring, not only against teams in the state, but against the best in the country.

“We’re playing some of the top teams,” said Bernal. “It’s a good chance to compare ourselves.”

After the trip back east, the Islanders return home, just in time to prepare for some of their toughest competition in Washington. The Islanders will host both Issaquah (April 15) and Bainbridge (May 7) at home this season.

As the high school team continues to thrive, so does the rest of the program, with almost 350 players ranging from the new kindergarten teams to high school.

2011 Schedule

4/8 at Duxbury (Mass.)

4/9 at Lincoln-Sudbury (Mass.)

4/15 vs. Issaquah

4/20 at Lynnwood

4/22 at Northshore

4/23 at Puyallup

4/26 vs. Eastside Catholic

5/3 vs. Overlake

5/7 vs. Bainbridge

5/11 vs. Lake Washington

5/13 at Skyline