A loss at home to Chief Sealth Tuesday left the Bainbridge High varsity boys soccer team with a level overall record of 1-1.
Their first match, against North Kitsap days before, ended in a 2-1 win.
Against the Seahawks, though, the Spartans found themselves on the wrong side of a 1-0 shutout and were left looking for lessons.
“That was a tough one,” said BHS Head Coach Drew Keller. “We poured it on, these guys worked hard today; our execution just wasn’t there. Really, there isn’t that much more to say.
“Credit to Chief Sealth,” he added, “they played well. They had a couple shots; one of them was fantastic and it went in.”
That shot, a seemingly thwarted Seahawk attempt that bounced just right in one of those “Did you just see that?” moments that deserves an instant replay, came early in the second half.
“It was brilliant execution,” Keller said. “That’s the goal of the season right there for that team — for any team. You’re not going to have very many that are going to match up with that.
“It was a screamer,” he added. “First of all, the first kid should have scored. Evan [Bergen Epstein] came out like a cat and made a fantastic save and bailed us out. Unfortunately, it fell right to that [other] guy’s chest.”
Still, planets-just-aligned-type luck aside, Keller said it was an admirable performance by the Seahawks.
“That’s not necessarily an easy ball to play,” he said. “It fell to him, but it’s bouncing, he’s got to time the ball dropping and it was great technique and a fantastic hit.”
Keller chalked up much of what wasn’t working for the island squad Tuesday to timing. It is very early in the season.
“This feels like a first game,” the coach said. “The ideas were there. The effort was there. The execution wasn’t.
“I know how they can play; I’ve seen it happen in the last couple of weeks. Sometimes it’s just not happening and we just weren’t getting bounces. Our passing was a yard off or our touch was a step too heavy. It didn’t happen for us today.”
The Spartans went on to play on the road Thursday, against Seattle Prep, and will return home to host Ingraham at 6 p.m. Monday, March 18.
