UPDATE: North Kitsap lacrosse overwhelmed Olympia, 20-1, at the Regional Athletic Center on April 21, improving to 5-4 and one game behind second-place Vashon.

Next, North hosts first-place Klahowya (7-1-0) at 7 p.m. April 26 at Strawberry Field. In their first meeting this season, North Kitsap lost 15-8. Should North prevail on April 26, it would be one game out of first place. After Klahowya, North has back-to-back matches with 1-6 Port Angeles and closes the season against 6-0 Gig Harbor.

SCORING SUMMARY
North Kitsap 6, 2, 8, 4 = 20
Olympia  0, 1, 0, 0 = 1
Kellson Arthurs, NK, 5 goals, 1 assist, 14 ground balls; Derek Jacobson, NK, 5 goals, 2 assists, 4 ground balls; Matthew Dotterweich, NK, 2 goals, 4 assists, 6 ground balls; Adam Wright, NK, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 ground balls; Ryan Beatty, NK, 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 ground balls; Jordan Austin, NK, 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 ground ball; Daxton Solis, NK, 1 goal, 11 ground balls; Joel Ingram, NK, 1 goal, 5 ground balls; George Dalton, NK, 1 goal, 4 ground balls; Riley Solis, NK, 1 goal, 3 ground balls; Kamiakin Gwinn, NK, 1 goal, 4 ground balls; Logan Cole, NK, 1 assist, 4 ground balls;  Ian Poffenroth, NK, 3 goalie saves, 1 ground ball; P. Pruitt, OLY, 1 goal, 2 ground balls; K. Sanders, OLY, 6 goalie saves, 3 ground balls.

EARLIER STORY:
POULSBO — Kellson Arthurs had 10 goals and one assist and recovered nine ground balls in the North Kitsap lacrosse team’s 18-14 win over Stadium, April 19 at Strawberry Field.

Also scoring for North: George Dalton, Matt Dotterweich, Joel Ingram, Derek Jacobson, and Connor Jones.

Seven players scored for Stadium.

Next for North: Olympia (0-8-0) on April 21 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Olympia. North is 1-0-0 against Olympia this season. North hosts Klahowya (7-1-0) on April 26.

Against Stadium, North improved to 4-4 and tightened its grip on third place in the Narrows/Olympic Conference of the Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association. The win continues a remarkable turnaround for North, which only recently was struggling at 1-4.

“Mental juice,” head coach Joe Bates said. “We had some hiccups in our mental game … But over spring break, our offense clicked and we’ve been carrying out that momentum.”

Arthurs said of what’s made the team click: “Just trying things out and working as a team. We finally started running our plays correctly … The intensity started coming out and people started trying.”

With the playoffs in their sights (the top three teams in the conference advance to the playoffs), are North’s players feeling pressure?

“I don’t think so and that’s why it’s clicking better,” Bates said. “It’s that outcome thinking — you get more tense and then you mess up and then you get more tense. But we’re thinking about this exact play, this exact moment, this face off. We stopped thinking about the end game. I’m hoping we can keep it up and continue on this hyped mentality we’ve got going and finish out strong.

“We just gotta keep doing what we’re doing: keep building every practice and [then] build a little bit more.”

After Klahowya, North Kitsap has three games left in regular season: April 28, at Port Angeles; May 5, hosting Port Angeles; and May 10, at Gig Harbor. (The lacrosse team is a club team and is not affiliated with North Kitsap High.)

Other teams are having fine seasons, with playoffs in their sights.

Baseball: North Kitsap (7-0, 10-2) travels to Olympic (4-3, 8-4) April 22; first pitch is at 4:15 p.m. North Kitsap leads the Olympic League and is a safe distance ahead of Port Angeles (4-2, 10-3) which, incidentally, scored 20 runs in a shutout of Port Townsend on April 19.

Kingston (1-6, 1-8) hosts University Prep at 4:15 p.m. April 22.

Boys Soccer: Kingston and North Kitsap, both 6-1-0 league, are vying for the Olympic League title. North shut out Port Angeles 1-0 and Kingston shutout Sequim 2-0 on April 19. North hosted North Mason (0-6) April 21; Kingston hosted Bremerton (3-4).

Boys Track: North Kitsap leads the 11-team Olympic League standings at 6-0-0. Kingston is tied for third at 4-2-0. North competes against 16 other teams on April 23 at the Terrace Invitational in Mountlake Terrace; Kingston competes against 16 other teams in the Bellevue Invitational.

Girls Tennis: North Kitsap is undefeated at 10-0, 10-0 and leads the 10-team Olympic League. Kingston is second at 8-2, 8-2. Kingston hosted North Mason (0-10, 0-10) April 21. North Kitsap hosts Gig Harbor on April 23.