Tides Take Bragging Rights With Baggataway Bowl Win

Peninsula Seahawks attacker Robby Akulschin scored a season-high seven goals, and fellow teammates Nathan DeLong and Nathan Gendreau each pulled off a hat trick, but it wasn’t enough as the Seahawks lacrosse team fell to the Gig Harbor Tides, 16-14, in the 10th annual Baggataway Bowl April 26 at Roy Anderson Field.

It was Gig Harbor’s first Baggataway Bowl win since 2016 and only their third overall in the rivalry game that started in 2014.

The Seahawks (3-6 overall, 3-3 Puget-Pierce 3A League) had to bounce back from a four-goal deficit on three different occasions. Despite Akulschin’s high-scoring individual effort, the Seahawks couldn’t overcome Gig Harbor’s (4-6, 3-4) stingy defense and rapid pace transition to offense.

The Tides jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never trailed. Gendreau found the back of the net with 5:34 left in the first quarter, starting a 4-0 run of their own over the next 2:20 to tie the game. Gig Harbor went up again by four going into the second quarter, but Akulschin scored three consecutive goals to cut the lead to 8-7. Tides powerful attacker Tyler Buys, who gave Peninsula’s defense issues most of the night, scored with less than a second to go in the half to put Gig Harbor up 9-7. This was his second straight game with seven goals.

The Seahawks cut the lead to 11-10 with 4:05 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as they would get. Gig Harbor finished the quarter with a possession-heavy attack scoring four goals in less than three minutes, two from Buys and two from attacker John Caplinger, to go up 15-11.

The Seahawks scored a couple of quick goals to cut Gig Harbor’s lead to 15-13 with 9:33 left in the game, but then both teams went on a scoring drought over the next 8:33, mostly due to Gig Harbor strategically stalling on offense.

Akulschin leads the Puget-Pierce 3A League in goals this season with 31. This was his fourth game this season with six or more goals.