Issaquah entered its first state championship lacrosse game since 2009 confident, bolstered by the experience of beating the two-time defending champs from Bellevue during the regular season.

But the Eagles met a far different group of Wolverines inside Memorial Stadium with the state’s top prize on the line.

Bellevue used a stellar defensive performance to control the action throughout, and leave with its third consecutive title and the first shutout in state title game history in an 8-0 win.

“I don’t think that much changed,” Issaquah coach Brandon Fortier said of the difference between the team’s two meetings. “The difference early was we didn’t finish chances, and they did.”

Goalie Jordan Dondoyano and the Eagles’ defense kept them within reach at 3-0 after the first half. But a quick score from Eric Haehl to begin the third pushed the lead to four, and Fortier said the uphill climb was simply too much against a Bellevue team rife with experience and led by a pair of future Division I players.

“They have a great lacrosse IQ, and are disciplined,” he said. “The keeper obviously made a difference. They stripped balls, they are solid.”

Despite the loss, Issaquah reached the program’s first title game in five years, and helped Fortier bridge the rich history of the program with what he hopes is an equally bright future.

“They brought some respect back,” he said of the Class of 2014. “To get us back to the finals for the first time since 2009 was a huge accomplishment.”