Spartans score fourth boys soccer shutout win this year

Central Kitsap High School has now joined the increasingly long list of schools to have fallen to the Bainbridge High varsity boys soccer team in a shutout loss this season.

Central Kitsap High School has now joined the increasingly long list of schools to have fallen to the Bainbridge High varsity boys soccer team in a shutout loss this season.

The latest Spartan spanking, 5-0 at home on Saturday, moved the team’s overall season record to 5-1.

The latest victorious game marked the end of a long week for BHS, wherein they first played (and beat) Stadium High on Tuesday and Bishop Blanchet on Thursday.

“I think it’s been a tough week,” said Spartan Head Coach Ian McCallum. “We played three games, and we play Monday next week. Even with a shutout win, we’re looking like a team that played three games in a week.”

While proud of the team’s Saturday performance, it was actually Thursday’s win over Blanchet that McCallum said was the most important win for the team over the past seven days.

“That went really well,” he said of the 4-1 win at home over the only team to have bested the Spartans so far this season (a 3-1 loss in Seattle on March 27).

“I mean, basically we did to them what they did to us over in Seattle,” he laughed.

“In Seattle, they came in and dominated the game. They were the team that wanted it more, and on Thursday night our guys came in and just busted it out and played really, really well,” McCallum said. “It was a convincing win [and] I was really happy with how we played.”

On Saturday, Bainbridge again took the early lead and ended the game in a rash of scoring, as has become their pattern of play.

The first Spartan to get the team on the board was Gerrit Mahling, who made the game’s first goal unassisted at 11 minutes of play.

BHS senior and team co-captain William Economy, assisted by Keats Hoonan, made the second goal of the game at 24 minutes.

Then, in the game’s 37th minute, Tanner Salmon scored the team’s third goal, unassisted, and cemented the Spartan lead.

Things would be relatively quiet points-wise for a while after that, with neither team being able to gain substantive ball control for a bit, until Mahling, assisted by Economy, brought home the team’s fourth goal of the game at 53 minutes.

Finally, with the BHS win all but assured, Wesley Hauser scored the final goal of the game at 70 minutes of play, assisted by Martin Van Druen.

Coming off a winning streak like this past week, McCallum said he was not concerned that the team would lose focus or fall prey to an excess of bravado.

“I don’t think this group of players get cocky – and maybe that’s a bad thing, I don’t know,” he laughed. “It seemed a definitely more relaxed performance [Saturday]. Again, we might be tired and whatever, but you can’t complain with a shutout win.”

McCallum said that despite the score, the Cougars were skilled competitors and the Spartans considered themselves lucky to have been able to take control of the game quickly.

“I think they just had a couple of bad breaks,” he said of Central Kitsap. “And, we’re a talented group. We have some talented players and we got some nice breaks.”

Entering into the middle of his first season as BHS head coach, McCallum said he was especially pleased with his exceptional working rapport with his two captains.

“It’s going great,” he said Saturday. “I think we’re pretty much on pace for what we want to be doing. I turned to one of them Thursday night, and he knew exactly what I wanted right away. It was a simple thing; we were going to do a cool down and a stretch at the end of the game. I didn’t even have to say it; we were on the same page.

“I think that we’re slowly getting there. Every week we get better, and it’s going well,” he said.