Spartans cruise to opening round state win behind Piland’s hat trick

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 21, 2026

The No. 1-seeded Bainbridge Spartans (20-0) beat the No. 16-seeded East Valley Knights (10-7-2) 6-1 at home May 20 in the first round of the 2026 2A Boys State Soccer Tournament behind a hat trick from Cruz Piland.

The Spartans advance to the state quarterfinals and will play No. 8 seed Nathan Hale at 6 p.m. May 22 at Bainbridge High School.

Piland almost put the first score of the match in off with a close shot opportunity, but the ball barely missed the goalpost, keeping the game locked at zero. Nonetheless, Bainbridge, like they have been all season, were the aggressors, keeping the ball in East Valley territory and keeping Spartan goalkeeper Cooper Harrington’s workload light.

Midfielder Will Treverton earned a corner kick, the second of the match for Bainbridge, but couldn’t convert the opportunity into a score. Piland earned a penalty kick, but hooked the shot a little too far to the left, keeping the match scoreless.

Piland eventually broke the dry spell for the Spartans, driving in the first goal of the match off a fastbreak opportunity with 12 minutes to go in the first half. He quickly followed that up with another goal.

With 20 minutes remaining in the match, Piland earned his hat trick with another up-close goal, seemingly cementing a Spartan victory. The Knights put in a late goal, negating a potential shutout for the Spartans.

“I think our team definitely is really good, I think we just need to close out games,” Spartan Isaiah Drovdahl said. “I feel that, especially for harder teams, you need to score more.”