When it was all over the Eastside Catholic girls lacrosse team made a beeline from the sidelines toward the field for a celebration of epic proportions following one of their most impressive victories in school history.

The Crusaders completed a perfect 16-0 season, earning a convincing 14-4 win against Lake Sammamish in the Washington Division 1 girls lacrosse state championship game on May 20 at Bellevue Memorial Stadium. Eastside Catholic junior Carlin Reilly scored a game-high five goals in the title game. Mackenzie Macllvennie, Olivia Jacobsen and Maddie McMaster each scored two goals in the win. Freshman Jesse Carroll also scored a goal as well.

“It just feels amazing,” Reilly said. “We worked so hard as a team and we’ve been practicing all year long for this. It is so great to finally complete something that we have worked so hard for. I think it all comes down to we wanted it so bad and when you want something so bad you will work hard for it.”

Eastside Catholic led Lake Sammamish 6-3 at halftime but outscored them 8-1 in the final 25 minutes of regulation to clinch the victory. The Crusaders scored three goals in 37 seconds between the 19:37 mark and 19-minute mark in the second half, extending their lead to 11-3 to ice the game.

Crusaders’ senior Maddie Banks, who scored two goals in the final contest of her high school career, said her squad didn’t take Lake Sammamish lightly.

“We were pretty pumped but we were very nervous. They beat Issaquah and we barely beat Issaquah. I was expecting so much out of them and honestly it was a really hard game,” Banks said. “It was close (early in the game) so I was worried for a little bit, but things starting clicking.”

Hoisting the championship trophy was a dream come true for the Crusaders.

“For it to become a reality is surreal. All the years before we got knocked out but we finally made it and we finally accomplished the one goal that we had been working for. It is always something we wanted,” Banks said.

Crusaders’ head coach Colette Foreman believes her team’s preparation, work ethic and commitment translated into her squad earning the state championship trophy.

“It wasn’t magic but it was sure magical,” Foreman said. “These girls did a ton of work. We had three goals this season. The first was we wanted to make sure that speed and agility wise, we were leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the teams out there. They worked their tails off the entire season to make that happen. The second thing was increasing the pure lacrosse IQ and skill level with this team and adding Brittany Poist to the coaching staff was instrumental in making that happen. Brandon Rea (assistant coach) with the speed and agility, was just fundamental in helping the team move to the next level but I think the most important thing that we worked on this year was the mental game. We strove to make sure that we were focusing on grit, perseverance and selflessness.”