Eastlake soccer coach Adam Gervis requested one thing from his team in its loser-out playoff matchup with Issaquah Tuesday in Seattle — a quick start.

The Wolves answered their coaches’ call, scoring three goals in the first 27 minutes for a 3-0 victory over the Eagles.

“(Gervis) told us to start out really hard, bring it to them, take it to them, and I guess that’s what we did,” senior forward Nick Rudella said.

Eastlake struck first in the 6th minute when senior midfielder Renato Bandeira broke free down the left sideline. He pushed the ball into the box and beat goalkeeper Evan King one-on-one with a shot to the right corner of the net.

The Wolves padded their lead in the 26th minute when Rudella found Trevor Seliber on a cross. Seliber booted the ball mid-air to the right corner of the net.

Eastlake struck just a minute later when Seliber returned the favor on a cross to an open Rudella, who drilled the ball to the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season.

“In all truth, players have stepped up,” Gervis said, noting his team has found a groove after rallying from a two-goal halftime deficit to beat Lake Washington on April 30. “Really, we’ve closed the door since the second half of Lake Washington. They’re playing well, they’re enjoying each other, they’re working harder for each other.”

Issaquah struggled to find a rhythm in the first half of Tuesday’s game, getting out-shot 10-4 over the first 40 minutes. The Eagles bounced back with nine second-half shots, but couldn’t finish.

“If we could put one chance away early in the second half, then we’ve got the momentum and it’s a different game, and who knows what can happen,” Issaquah head coach Jason Lichtenberger said.

The Eagles were without injured University of Washington-bound senior Quinn Grisham and star senior forward Lucas Morias. Injuries have been a consistent problem for Issaquah, but Lichtenberger was proud of the way his team competed despite adversity.

“It was an interesting year,” he said. “We came in with very high hopes, very high expectations and we had to change things a lot throughout the year. You go through the year and some teams can fold, some teams can rise to the occasion, and I thought we did a good job of rising to the occasion and put together a very good season.”

Issaquah ended its season with a 9-6-3 record.

Eastlake, which improved to 9-4-3 overall, travels to Vancouver to face the Greater St. Helens League No. 1 — either Evergreen or Skyview — on Saturday afternoon. The winner of that game moves on to the state tournament.

“We’re pretty excited about that (opportunity),” Rudella said. “I always had a belief that we would make it to state.”