Mercer Island boys water polo secured a spot at state tournament after plowing through the competitive region II of the district tournament. Region II contained all of last year’s top four state finishers – Bellevue, Mercer Island, Roosevelt and Curtis.

The Islanders had an easy time in the first round, beating Rogers 25-3. MI led 12-0 after the first quarter and coasted through the rest of the game, with 10 different Islanders scoring goals. Topher Lacrampe led the scoring blitz with six goals on seven attempts. Jacob Guedel and Jack Larkin led the defense with four steals each.

The semifinal game versus Curtis was a closer seesaw battle. The Islanders led at halftime by a slim margin, 7-6, but were able to open their lead in the third quarter, outscoring Curtis 4-1. In the fourth quarter, Curtis was more aggressive driving and shooting as the Vikings took advantage of the Islanders’ four key defenders being saddled with two ejections each – Guedel, Trevor Gullstad, Ford Witman and Conner Vacca.

But Mercer Island managed to stave off the Vikings and advance to the finals with a 12-11 victory.

The Region II final pitted Roosevelt against MI. Roosevelt pulled an upset in the semifinal round, defeating the reigning state champs Bellevue, 7-6. Mercer Island and Roosevelt split their regular season games, walking away with one victory each.

The game was tied 1-1 at the end of the first and continued to be a low-scoring defensive battle throughout, with Mercer Island trailing 2-4 at the half. But the Islanders held the Roughriders scoreless in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 3-4 off of a five-meter goal by Larkin.

At 6:43 in the fourth quarter, Anthony Pedreira scored off an assist by Lacrampe to tie it up at 4-4, before Roosevelt  reeled off three unanswered goals. Larkin broke the scoring drought with a goal in the last minute of the game, but it was too little too late as the Islanders fell 5-7.

Despite aggressive shooting throughout the contest, the Islanders were unable to penetrate the brick wall of Roosevelt’s  goalie, junior national team member Conrad Gordon, who had 16 saves.

“We gotta win. We have to play our water polo, not the other team’s,” coach Andrew Smith-Jones said after the game.

The Islanders will begin state tournament competition at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13 at Curtis High School.