Bainbridge is continuing its strong start to the season, as the Spartans cruised to a dominant road victory, 6-0, against Bremerton Sept. 23, in large part due to a hat trick by sophomore Magdalena Rufo-Hill, her second in five matches.

The Spartans improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in Olympic League play, while the Knights fell to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the OL.

“I feel like our team has come out really strong this season,” Rufo-Hill said. “I think one thing that’s definitely helped us is like switching the ball and keeping our heads up.”

Neither team could get much of anything going offensively within the first 20 minutes of the match despite many shots on goal from both teams.

The theme changed in favor of the Spartans in the final 20 minutes of the half with Rufo-Hill scoring three consecutive goals. Midfielders Isabella St. Clair and Maya Zick added two more goals to the total, giving Bainbridge a 5-0 lead entering halftime.

“At 5-0 at halftime, it’s a definite breakdown for the girls and their mentality,” Bremerton coach Malia Jaurez said. “But what I told them at halftime is if we get into another team’s mental space, then our physical skill can push us through.”

Bainbridge maintained their aggressiveness, keeping the ball in Knight territory to start the second half. Eventually, the Spartans found their offensive spark from the first half in terms of putting shots on net, but could not get any of them to fall in large part to Bremerton goalkeeper Sammi Stevens’ defense.

Bainbridge sophomore Emaline Delecki put in one final goal for the Spartans with less than two minutes remaining, sealing the win for Bainbridge.

“Coming in, we were trying to combine more,” Bainbridge coach Katie Drovdahl said. “So a lot of the time we’ll try to attack the flanks.”

Knight Macelyn Rotter dribbles the ball with Spartans Emaline Delecki and Daphne Jackson surrounding her in a 6-0 Bainbridge win Sept. 23 in Bremerton.