Mercer Island High School’s boys lacrosse team is shredding its way through the competition this season with a 10-0 local record and No. 1 state ranking at press time.

The Islanders — who are ranked 17th on the west coast — recently notched victories over powerhouses Lakeridge High School from Oregon and Nanaimo from British Columbia. Over spring break, the locals visited Maine to compete against some stellar New England squads. The Islanders beat Falmouth High School (Massachusetts) and Cape Elizabeth High School (Maine) and lost to Bishop Guertin High School (New Hampshire).

Last year, the team tested its mettle against solid teams in New York and New Jersey during spring break.

“The team has really come together over the past few weeks and I’m really excited to see where this team’s going to end up at the end of May,” said senior goalkeeper and captain Jess Geoghagan.

“I definitely think it comes down to just having a lot of really good seniors that have been multi-year contributors on the team,” added Geoghagan, who captains the team with senior attackmen Laken Hykes and Lucas Rosato.

Other top seniors leading the way to victory are midfielders (or middies) Ryder Davis and Robbie Curry, defenseman Sebastian Gonzalez and attackman Zach Said. Talented juniors are middie Bryce Galgon, defenseman Philip Weil and face-off specialist Declan Manson.

This is Geoghagan’s fourth year playing for the Islanders’ varsity squad, which won state crowns the last two years.

Geoghagan said he’s enjoying his second year starting at goalkeeper, adding that he’s got the best vantage point to watch the game while playing one of the prime positions on the field.

The netminder said it gets aggressive in front of him at times: “Obviously they can’t go into the crease, but it does definitely get a little bit heated close to the net.”

Lacrosse became part of Geoghagan’s life as a kindergartner and he’s never stopped playing the sport that athletes flock to on the Island. He tried his hand at football, basketball and baseball, and lacrosse was the one sport that stuck and impacted him to continue playing all the way through high school.

“I really think it’s how the program’s structured,” Geoghagan said of the Island lacrosse culture. “At the kindergarten level, I was being coached by the current varsity players. I myself now currently coach the 5-6 team at the middle school. I just think that was a pretty big contributor to have my coaches be varsity athletes where every week, every Friday night, I’d be able to go up to the high school and watch them play a game that they were teaching me.”

Geoghagan enjoys the action of the unique sport and was also drawn toward lacrosse because Mercer Island teams are successful on the field.

The Islander will continue his lacrosse journey this fall at Vassar College in New York where he plans to focus on economics in the classroom.

Mercer Island High School boys lacrosse players prepare to invade the field. Photo courtesy of Jim Jantos