The Bainbridge High School varsity boys lacrosse team came back strong from a disappointing season premiere to forge an 8-7 win in their home opener against the Skyline Spartans Tuesday, March 18.

BHS pulled ahead early and led by two points in the first quarter, but found themselves facing a 5-5 scoreboard at the end of the first half following a lackluster second.

The competition heated up in the third, which concluded with Bainbridge again leading 8-6.

It was an intense moment then, when in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, a hurried Skyline goal nearly brought the game to overtime.

“We didn’t finish the game that I think we wanted to, we played a little sloppy toward the end there,” said BHS Co-head Coach Cody Bludorn. “Clearly, it’s the second game of the season and we have a lot of things to work on.”

Bainbridge was simply outplayed by a more skilled team when they lost their first game of the season last week against Bellevue 10-3, Bludorn said.

Against Skyline, however, they stayed true to their game plan and came out victorious.

“The effort was still there,” Bludorn said of Tuesday’s home game. “The effort was definitely there in the first game. The execution was pretty similar as well. This team wasn’t kind of the caliber of Bellevue but we still didn’t execute the stuff that we wanted to and that is a little bit frustrating, but that’s why we have practice.”

The game was marked by a large number of turnovers, something that Bludorn said will happen less frequently as the season progresses.

“I think it’s just early in the season and a lot of that is the execution part,” he explained. “Toward the end of the season we expect our sticks to be a little more polished.

“Hopefully we can really cut down on some of those turnovers, going forward.”

Still, despite temporary lags in the BHS game, Bludorn said there were glimpses of the greatness that the team has the potential to reach.

“I thought at times our ball movement looked good,” he said. “Transition defense will be something we need to work on.”

Looking ahead to practice this week in preparation for the next game, Bludorn said that he intends to focus on offensive consistency.

“We go into every game expecting to win,” he said. “We’re excited to get out of here with a win tonight, but definitely there’s some things to work on.”

The win at home brought the BHS boys team overall season record to 1-1.