Bainbridge Island is a soccer town.

While other high school sports programs wax and wane — more students turning out this year, less in another and sometimes only senior or perhaps mostly junior players on a squad -— soccer is a perennially popular and high performing island sports staple.

So many students came out for boys soccer tryouts this year, in fact, that there was talk of forming a fourth team.

It did not come to pass, but still the demand was there. Players and coaches credit the sports’ success on Bainbridge with a strong player pipeline beginning with club soccer programs open to kids as young as 3, ensuring quality senior players on the high school team, which regularly enjoys impressive postseason standings. Last year’s team had an overall record of 13-3-3, and made it to the first round of the state tournament.

With only four returning seniors, this year’s roster of varsity boys soccer players is on the younger side, but wants for nothing in the realm of talent, said Spartan Head Coach Ian McCallum.

“All three teams are outstanding,” he said. “There’s a lot of good players.

“There’s a different energy to the team this year,” he added. “There’s a different makeup to the team, and you’re going to see a different style of play on the field than what it was last year.”

Thus far the varsity team seems more advanced on the offensive side, McCallum and team captains Anton Easterbrook and Devon Reynolds agreed.

“Until we get our first game, you just don’t know,” the coach said. “But they’re hard working. They love the game. It’s not as if it’s a chore to them. It’s going to be so easy to coach these guys. They love the game [and] they want to do well.”

“It’s pretty cohesive,” Easterbrook added. “I think we’ll definitely be based on being pretty offensive, just based on the players that we have and the talents that they have.”

McCallum said that the team would focus on bringing their defensive game up to par – relying heavily on Reynolds’ full return to the net this year to lead that effort.

The senior goalkeeper missed a chunk of last year’s season due to an injury, but is slated to be the main man in goal again this year.

“We trust that it comes,” McCallum said of the rest of the defensive skills.

“We know where our strengths are. They’re guys that don’t want to give up goals. They’re going to be scrappy. You look at the size of us, we’re not going to be big. We’re not going to have a guy who’s 6-2 and powerful; that’s just not going to be our mantra. And I’m cool with that. It’s fine.”

The coach said this year’s Spartan squad would excel based more on their mastery of the fundamentals and their tactical prowess.

“You can’t develop speed,” he said. “It’s either there or it’s not. They’ve got speed and they’ve also got good soccer brains as well.

“As a coach, I’m having to pick on the little things to make them better individually, versus trying to pick on big things because they’re so good. It’s the little critiques here and there that make them better.”

Rounding out the varsity roster are Sam Casad, Mario Vukic, Will Dowell, Micah Russell, Riley Dixon, Jospin Kingombe, Jake Prodzinski, Ruark Bohonos, Thomas Crowley, Ryan Fitzgerald, Ben Olliffe, Tyco Libes, Jacob Kaesler and Andy Becker.

McCallum and the captains agreed that Garfield, Ingraham and O’Dea would be particularly skilled adversaries, based on past experience, but that they were not overly leery of any one team on the schedule.

“We as a team could do really well,” McCallum said. “We need a little bit of luck. But, with what we’ve got, what we’re bringing to the table, we could have a really good year.”

The BHS squad will play its first home game of the year at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21 against Ingraham.