The guests got on the board first and last Thursday, April 18, and those were the goals that counted most.

Ultimately, the 4-3 loss against Franklin (4-6-0 in conference) left the Bainbridge High varsity boys soccer team with an overall season record of 4-5-2 (3-4-2 in conference).

It was a big match, one the Spartans needed to win, and it resulted in some unfortunate shifting going on in the standings. Mainly, Bainbridge dropped three points.

The Spartans were thus ranked 10th in the Metro League, tied with Nathan Hale, with just five games left on the regular schedule.

“This was a brutal one,” said BHS Head Coach Drew Keller. “How we come back from this is going to define the rest of our season.”

Mistakes and dumb, bad luck plagued the Spartans last Thursday.

Franklin scored first, and quickly, but the island squad answered in turn with about 25 minutes left in the first half.

Then there was much back and forth, but no scoring, until about 10 minutes remained in the half and the Spartans put one in the net to lead 2-1.

The guests promptly responded, tying things up 2-all moments before the break.

Not long into the second, with about 35 minutes remaining, Franklin pulled ahead 3-2. They led 4-2 with about 26 minutes remaining, and though the Spartans managed one more goal before the final buzzer it was not enough to turn the tide.

“We made mistakes, we got punished for it,” Keller said. “We’ve been in great form, playing some of the top teams really tight and we should have got a result out of this game.

“These guys [were] below us on the table; we can’t be giving any points to teams below us on the table and this is a big result for them.”

Roosevelt leads the league (10-0-1 in conference), followed by O’Dea (10-2-0) and Lakeside (8-0-3).

The Spartans would reconvene the next day, Friday, for a focused practice and morale session, Keller said, and look ahead to two more weeks of regular season play.

“We’re not out of the playoff picture, but this was three points dropped for us,” the coach said. “They battled hard; they’re passionate players.”

First order of business, he added, was to “sort the heads out” after the devastating defeat, as every game going forward was crucial.

The Spartans traveled to play Cleveland on Monday and returned home to host Nathan Hale Wednesday.

They will play their final home match at 6 p.m., Monday, April 29, against West Seattle.