The girls soccer team closed out the regular season with a 2-0 win on Thursday afternoon at Eastside Catholic to provide some momentum going into today’s first round of Metro League playoffs.

The Spartans play Blanchet at 1 p.m. at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium. Though the Braves defeated Bainbridge 3-2 in a Spartan home game and the two teams tied later in the season, coach Mark Grindrod is optimistic about his team’s chances.

“We match up well, and hopefully Blanchet won’t have a lot of practice time on the stadium turf,” he said, recalling the Spartans’ difficulties on the slick surface in their one game at Memorial Stadium.

Though the Spartans had crushed the Crusaders 8-0 at home in early September, this game was much closer.

“The field was muck from end to end,” said Grindrod.

Fab Rezayat scored the game’s opening goal unassisted in the 27th minute.

Emily Haber added an insurance tally off an assist from Lindsay Lund in the 66th minute.

On Tuesday, Lakeside made the last home game for the six Spartan seniors – Crisma Biggs, Christen Faltermaier, Suzanne Fossum, Haber, Courtney McFarland and Rezayat – less than memorable, as the Lions dominated play in a 4-0 win.

The Lions, last year’s state champions, had just four seniors of their own on a team that Grindrod termed “the best we’ve seen all year.”

The Lions scored three times in the first half to put the game away. A combination of pinpoint passing and aggressive defense kept the ball in the Spartan end for much of the opening 40 minutes.

Bainbridge played better in the second half. The Spartans had their best scoring opportunity in the 63rd minute as Adriana Gonzalez-Medina turned around her defender in the right corner, then centered the ball in front of the goal.

But the Lion keeper leaped between two Spartans to grab the ball away. Lakeside closed out the scoring nine minutes later on a wide-open shot on the right side of the goal.

The team finished the regular season with a record of six wins, eight losses and a tie.

JVs dominate

Bainbridge JVs 4, Lakeside JVs 0 – Kara Mann scored twice, while Jen Utley and Jessica Borgen added single goals in Tuesday’s home win.

It became the team’s final game when Eastside Catholic forfeited Thursday’s scheduled contest.

“To shut Lakeside down is an accomplishment for the team,” coach Ahn Tran said.

The victory gave the Spartans a 10-1-1 record, easily the best in Metro among JV teams.

“From the get-go this season, I tried to sell the kids on the value of hard work, and it paid off,” Tran added.

“The kids stepped up their play and worked hard for each other, and that brought the team together.

“We got even better as the season went along, and we beat all the Metro powerhouses.”

The team’s performance bodes well for next year’s varsity squad.

“There’s going to be a real dogfight next year for varsity positions,” Tran said.