Offense works, defense doesn't for Spartan kickers

The BHS girls’ soccer team broke out of a two-game scoring drought on Monday against Blanchet, only to have their defense lapse.

Giving up three goals early in the second half resulted in the team’s fourth loss in a row, as the visiting Braves held on for a 3-2 win.

Though plainly discouraged, both and coach Mark Grindrod and co-captain Fab Rezayat remained optimistic.

“This was by far our best game of the season,” Grindrod said. “The girls are starting not to be intimidated and are getting a good grip on what I’m coaching.”

He was especially pleased with the increased assertiveness of Erin Wiggins and Sarah Esvelt.

“We’re playing a lot of teams that pass very well and we need to do the same thing,” he added.

“We made a lot of progress today,” Rezayat said. “We played better than in the last three games. We’ll get there.”

The Spartans appeared to have gotten there in the 31st minute when Suzanne Fossum sent a pass down the right side to Christen Faltermaier, who had just entered the game after persuading Grindrod to put her in at forward. Without a defender within 30 yards of her, Faltermeier had plenty of time to angle in on the goal and slide a shot past the keeper into the left corner of the net. It was the team’s first goal since the Lakeside game and provided a big lift as the Spartans went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

But Blanchet tied the game in the 44th minute on a shot from some 20 yards out and two defensive lapses soon afterward proved decisive. In both instances, pinpoint Blanchet passes got past defenders and allowed attackers to go one-on-one with the keeper as the Braves took a 3-1 lead by the 53rd minute.

Bainbridge came back within two minutes as Adriana Gonzalez-Medina took the ball about 25 yards out from the left side of the goal, dribbled briefly and launched a shot into the right corner of the net.

Bainbridge just missed tying the game ten minutes later when the Blanchet goalie dived on a loose ball a fraction of a second before the onrushing Gonzalez-Medina could get her foot on the ball for what would have been an easy shot into the wide-open goal.

Three minutes later, another shot was just over the top of the goal in what turned out to be Bainbridge’s final good scoring opportunity as the team dropped to 2-4 on the season.

The Spartans host Holy Names this afternoon at 5 p.m.

Bainbridge JVs 3, Blanchet JVs 2 – Toren Johnson scored all three goals as the Spartans won their fourth game of the season on Monday at Blanchet.

“We played aggressively and dominated both sides of the field,” said coach Ahn Tran.

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