Outlaws take second at SALI tourney

Sisters boys and girls lacrosse squads each played four games at the SALI (Sisters Annual Lacrosse Invitational) Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6. The teams each won three of their four games for a second-place tournament finish.

The girls started the tourney with a very narrow 12-11 win over Sunset JV on Saturday in an evenly matched contest. There wasn't a seventh- and eighth-grade division, so the seventh- and eighth-grade girls were brought up and played on the varsity squad. Coach Mikaela Trott told The Nugget that it was a very fun experience for the girls.

Top scorers in the game were Sydney Head, Mary Root, and Pearl Gregg, who each scored two goals. (Editor's note: Mary Root scored a goal and an assist that were not properly credited in the original story).

Sisters went on to post a 13-7 win over Bend United JV.

Skylar Wilkins' goal was a highlight. Wilkins received a pass from behind from Olivia Hougham, and took the shot. The goalie stopped the shot, and the ball bounced out of her stick. Skylar scooped it up, made a pivot turn, and sent the ball into the net above the goalie's head.

Head also had a nice penalty shot, with a bounce shot into the goal.

On Sunday, the Outlaws faced Emerald Bay, out of Victoria, British Columbia, and recorded an 11-4 win.

Trott commented on the game.

"It was super-physical, and I think a lot of their players play hockey," said Mikaela. Normally, in girls lacrosse, sticks are held kind of like a steering wheel, between one and two o'clock, but these girls held their sticks horizontally, and laid out a couple of our players. The referees called everything, but our girls were not used to that, and it was a bit of a mess."

The Outlaws headed into their final game against Summit JV undefeated. The game was scheduled for a 2:00 start but was delayed by over an hour due to thunder and lightning.

Sisters dropped the game against the Storm 13-3. Ellie and Mia Cook both scored a goal for the Outlaws, but the excitement came when eighth-grader Reese Hartwell scored Sisters' final goal.

Sophia Bianchi got the ball on defense, and passed it to Hougham, who ran it down to the 12-meter fan. Reese was down low, and her defender slid up to cover Hougham, which left Reese wide open. Instead of taking the shot herself, Olivia passed the ball to Reese, who quick-sticked it into the goal.

The Outlaws finished the tournament at 3-1 and earned a second-place finish.

Trott shared her thoughts on the SALI tournament with The Nugget.

"Through a very supportive SALI committee, this is now an official boys and girls tournament. I've coached girls lacrosse for four years, and this is my last year coaching. It's been my goal to get the girls to play in SALI, and this year it happened. To go out on a bang like this is super-special, earned, and deserved."

The boys also started their tournament play with a win on Saturday, a 10-6 victory over Summit JV.

Gator Haken led the Outlaws with six goals. Coach Paul Patton told The Nugget that the team did a good job of controlling the ball, and the defense made the Storm work hard to get shots.

Cole Pade and Damien Wills had nice performances at long-stick middie, which gave the Outlaws added defensive strength, and a better chance on ground balls.

Sisters went on to post a 6-1 win over McNary. The scoring was evenly distributed between attackmen Trey Stadeli, Ethan Morgan, Noah Keeton and Ethan Manuel; and Jake Stevens was a force in the face-off battle.

Goalies Casey Warburton and Anthony Roberts both did a nice job of holding the Storm to just one goal.

On Sunday, Sisters faced Tualatin in the semi-finals, and came away with a 6-3 victory. Again, the Outlaws got balanced scoring, and the defensive unit of Matt Harris, Spencer Morgan, Titan Kroytz, Sam Mitchell, Ethan Kennedy and Jaden Condel worked well together to stifle Tualatin's offense.

The Outlaws were bested 7-3 by Sunset in their final game.

Patton told The Nugget that Sunset was a very good team, and ran a very disciplined offense to get good shots. They put good full-field pressure on the Outlaws and forced turnovers.

Sisters did respond well to the challenge and the Outlaws' middies Tyler Friend, Willie Stewart, Jared Richerson and Connor Martin stepped up their play and helped get some stops and scoring opportunities on transition offense.

Patton said, "Overall, it was a good tournament for us. Finishing in second place was the best we've done in recent memory."