Though they didn’t exactly win, last Thursday’s 1-1 stalemate against O’Dea was a Spartan show all the way.

The Bainbridge boys varsity soccer team jumped out to an early lead courtesy of the game’s first goal by co-captain, BHS senior Anton Easterbrook, and barely missed pulling ahead in several heart-stopping near goals after that. Eventually, the Fighting Irish snuck one through and got on the board, and the Spartans were unable to answer in time to prevent the tie.

“I think 1-1 is a fair result,” said BHS Head Coach Ian McCallum. “We just didn’t control it like we should have and it was unforced errors that made the difference. We couldn’t get the rhythm right, we kept giving up the ball.

“I describe our performance tonight as a bad tennis player,” he added. “Too many unforced errors.”

It had been only the second game of the year following a win against Seattle Prep, and the tie earned the Spartans an overall record of 1-0-1. The result also buoyed O’Dea to the same record, tying the teams for second place in the Metro Sound Division standings behind Garfield (2-0).

McCallum said he was “pleased” with the Spartans’ performance against O’Dea, though it had not been as good as their debut showing.

“I actually thought we played better on Tuesday [against Seattle Prep],” he admitted. “But we played against a better team tonight.”

This year’s Spartan is chomping at the bit, the coach said, to rack up wins, an eagerness which may have lead them to enter the contest too excited and miss — just barely — a few critical shots.

“I’ve said to these guys; they’re going to score an outrageous goal,” McCallum said. “And in two games we’ve nearly scored two or three outrageous goals.”

As the team settles down and plays more together, the goals will come accordingly, McCallum said.

“We need to play more together and get that rhythm going,” he explained. “We have to work out communication and, on the defensive side of things, when the ball’s in the air.”