BAINBRIDGE – The sweet smell of success stuck to the Bainbridge Spartans even through the sweat of their second soccer game of the season last week and the varsity boys came away with their second consecutive shutout win at home, 2-0 over the visitors from O’Dea.
Goals were scored by Gerrit Mahling and Jospin Kingombe, with assists awarded to Glodi Kingombe and Cal Barash-David, in the March 19 matchup.
Both goals were scored relatively early in the first half of the game, and the Spartans were unable to achieve a third throughout the rest of the game.
Spartan Head Coach Ian McCallum said that the game was not a best for the squad, despite the score, and there were obvious areas of improvement.
“I think that O’Dea are probably going on that ferry right now feeling pretty upset about the result of the game,” he said. “They’re a much-improved team from last year and that’s their second loss this week.”
McCallum said that while talking with the O’Dea coach they both agreed that the visitors were downtrodden by the first defeat and did not play their best, which allowed the Spartans — who were moving obviously slower than in their season debut — to take the day.
“I don’t think we had to do a lot of defensive stuff in the second half,” McCallum said. “We were the better team in the first half.”
McCallum added that as it was early in the season, the lag meant that the team was not as in shape yet as they’d hoped and maybe still feeling the effects of last Tuesday’s game.
Of course, he added, that wasn’t really an excuse.
“They had a game on Tuesday as well,” he said of O’Dea. “We put a lot of effort into Tuesday’s game and maybe that’s just what it was, people running out of steam.”
Still, he added, it’s hard to complain when, after the second game of the year, the team has yet to give up a goal.
The Spartans are ranked in second-place in the Metro Mountain division, behind Bishop Blanchet (3-0 overall).
The week ahead, McCallum said last Thursday, was to be a hectic one for the Spartans with games on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before slowing down for spring break.
