Bellevue goes 3-2 in San Diego

Fresh off a disappointing loss to Mercer Island on Wednesday night, the Bellevue Wolverines packed their bags and headed south on Thursday morning to compete in the 40-team San Diego Invitational. Despite dropping their first two games, the Wolverines won their last three to emerge with a winning record.

In the opening round, the Wolverines were matched against San Marcos of Santa Barbara. Although San Marcos was seeded as the weakest team in Bellevue’s bracket, they proved to be one of the best teams in the tournament, placing fifth overall — their lone loss coming against eventual champions Santana HS by one-goal in overtime. Senior goalie Reed Hendrickson led a strong first-half defensive effort, limiting San Marcos to four goals and keeping the Wolverines in the game 4-1. But San Marcos’ speed and size was too much for the Wolverines, resulting in a 11-2 loss.

In the second round, the Wolverines were unable to overcome a 4-1 first quarter deficit and lost 11-8 to Westview HS. George French led Bellevue with three goals. As a result of the loss, the Wolverines were forced to jump back in the pool for a back-to-back game against Del Norte. Thanks in part to the full game “warm-up” against Westview, the Wolverines were sharp early and built a 4-1 first quarter lead. As the game wore on, the Wolverines tired but were able to hold on for a 7-5 victory due to several spectacular saves by Hendrickson.

On Saturday, the rested Wolverines easily dispatched Mar Vista HS and Point Loma HS by scores of 15-4 and 11-3. Sophomore Marco Stanchi had 11 steals and junior Scott Bowers added 9 in the wins. Against Mar Vista, sophomore Daniel Sandler notched his first career varsity goal and assist.

Bellevue (17-5) returns to the pool on Thursday, November 1st at 4:30pm against Enumclaw in its final game before the state tournament.