Lacrosse season came to a close last Friday night with a hard-fought game between the Vashon Vultures and the White River Hornets at their place.

The Hornets came out strong, but so did Vashon. In the early going, both defenses held, and the first goal was well into the quarter and made by White River. Vashon came back and Kiryk Mozeleski blistered one in from the corner. The quarter was back and forth with White River taking a lead and Vashon matching: it was 4-4 at the close of the first quarter.

The next quarter was all White River as the 18 seniors on the roster began to carry the game. By halftime, it was 9-4. Former islander David Pugh, now a senior at Ohio Weslyan University, gave a halftime analysis, noting that Vashon was doing a great job of possession on offense, but White River was dominating in transition and scoring most of their goals that way. A couple White River players were blazingly fast up the middle.

Vashon’s Adrian St. Germain and Dawit Tuller-Ross created a few highlight reel moments with runs that defeated three and four opponents, but Vashon couldn’t seem to get that last pass out of transitions to an open man. The White River defense consisted of three seniors each over 6 feet 3 inches tall, so with their long poles in hand, trying to get by them and their swarming midfielders was like “trying to avoid tie-dye and Birkenstocks at the Saturday Market,” to steal a line from Chris Nye.

On the Vulture’s side, the team missed Jack Kelly, who was out due to injury. Despite Vashon’s best efforts, they were worn down, outmuscled and outrun. The Hornets nearly double team size tipped the scale, and the odds became reality as the game extended out of reach.

Goalie Duncan McMillan added to the highlight reel moment when he had a save low, then immediately came up off his knees and made a second save.

The Vultures finally managed two goals late in the game, but the final score was 17-6. Scorers were Elliot Carleton with two, Max Schira with two, Mozeleski with one and Paris Brown with one.

The season is over, but with two sophomores and eight freshman, the younger guys were huge contributors, and no team Vashon faced matched that. That bodes well for the Vashon Vultures, as they see off a lone senior, while White River sees off 18.

Vashon’s uprising sophomores might now be called grizzled veterans, while for other teams, that class next year will likely be getting their first taste of the pace of varsity play. For now, the Vultures will have to find a perch and gnaw the bones of a rough last game.

— Greg Martin is the father of two high school athletes.