The Lions poked the bear.

The West Linn girls lacrosse team, hosting perennial power Lake Oswego on Monday, May 5, came out strong and grabbed a two-goal lead over the Lakers late in the first quarter.

But the Lakers – they’re the bear in this analogy – came back hard. They finished the opening quarter on a 3-0 run, then tacked on another 12 unanswered goals to fuel their 18-7 Three Rivers League win at West Linn High School.

“I think our teamwork stood out to me the most,” said Lake Oswego senior Lilah Turley, who finished with four goals, three assists, three forced turnovers and five ground balls. “We were really spread out on attack and making good shots, finding those cutters and not making stupid passes and it felt really fun out there.”

“I think we have speed and I think we have a lot of people that can make plays and can handle the ball well, so it’s not just one person,” said Laker senior Parker Lemm, who led all scorers with five goals, along with three assists and three ground balls. “We have a lot of great attackers and people to look for.”

“We’re feeling really good,” added LO sophomore Cecelia Coleman, who finished with two goals against West Linn. “We’ve been really implementing what we’ve been working on in practice and being successful with the specific things we’re focusing on so I think that will really benefit us in the postseason.”

With the win, the Lakers’ ninth straight, Lake Oswego won the Three Rivers League title and improved to 12-3 overall. Next up, the third-seeded Lakers will open the OGLA state playoffs by hosting the winner of the Lakeridge vs. Marist game in a quarterfinal contest on Thursday, May 15.

West Linn, meanwhile, bounced back to beat Lakeridge 16-6 on Friday, May 9, and ended its year in second place in the TRL at 10-5. Next up, the fourth-seeded Lions will open the OGLA state playoffs by hosting the winner of the St. Mary’s vs. Oregon Episcopal School game in a quarterfinal contest on Thursday, May 15.

“We started out real well, but then we lost that,” said West Linn sophomore Piper Beall, who scored once in the loss to Lake Oswego. “We had the energy at the beginning — we were here and ready to fight — but then we kind of lost it.”

“The last time we played them, it was a very close game so we went into this with the same mentality,” said Lion senior Leia Gallo, who scored twice vs. LO. “We wanted to win, obviously, and that’s how we came out. We came out really strong, but in the second quarter, we lost it. That’s kind of when we lost the game.”

While Lake Oswego ended up winning big, it was West Linn that started fast, outscoring the Lakers 5-3 in the game’s first 10 minutes, 15 seconds, getting two scores each from senior Brooklyn Schiele and Gallo, while Beall connected on a drive for that two-goal lead with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter.

But Lake Oswego took over then and there – and took over big-time. The Lakers closed the first quarter on a 3-0 run to lead 6-5 on two scores from Lemm and one by senior Olivia Schaffer.

There was more trouble – a lot of it – ahead for West Linn after that, including a devastating 9-0 second-quarter edge that pushed LO’s lead to 15-5 at the half and put the Lakers’ win on ice.

Highlights from the Lakers’ dominant second quarter included two goals each from Lemm, senior Millie Prager and Turley, as well as scores from sophomore Anna Matteri, Coleman and senior Charlotte Gibson.

“Everyone on our team is capable of scoring and a lot of people stepped up and we really worked together as a team,” Coleman said.

The Lakers added another three unanswered goals in the second half, boosted their lead to 17-5 when Gibson scored on a rebound with 5:40 remaining and extended West Linn’s scoreless streak to 33:57.

The Lions broke that streak with late goals from Leia Gallo and freshman Evie Gallo, but by then, it was too little and too late.

Now, the Lakers are turning their sights to the upcoming state playoffs.

“We are just going to come out with a lot of intensity, play our game and stay focused,” Turley said. “I think if we do that, we can win.”

“We all need to be contributing and just stay confident and play our game,” Lemm added.

West Linn, meanwhile, believes it has what it takes to come back strong.

“We have some tweaks (we need to make), but … if we all keep our energy high and continue to work together, I think we could go to the championship,” Leia Gallo said. “If we really, really want it and we work for it, I think we’re totally capable of going to the championship.”

“We have a lot of new starters this year so working together gets us the best end result, learning what each other’s good at,” Beall added. “(The key is) momentum.”