It was a long first half of swings and misses for the Bainbridge Spartans in their first road game and 2A Olympic League opener of 2024—just about every shot finding every surface besides the back of the net.

The one that did go through, a breakaway goal from senior middle Laine Romney with roughly 10 minutes to go, was more than enough, and the Spartans would tally four more in the second half to complement a strong defensive showing in a 5-0 win against the defense-minded Olympic Trojans.

“We always look forward to playing here, and we know they’re always going to make us work for it,” Bainbridge coach Katie Drovdahl said. “It took us longer than we wanted to start scoring goals, and we struggled to figure it out, but we got through it.”

Bainbridge had already notched its first win two days earlier, a 4-0 victory in a rematch from last year’s playoff defeat at the hands of 3A Central Kitsap, but the Spartans struggled early on to navigate against Olympic’s high line and offsides trap.

Even when the Spartans netted their first goal, it would come on a bit of controversy. Longtime Trojans coach Steve Haggerty was calling for an offsides whistle against Romney, who had dribbled the ball past the goalie and touched the ball with ease into the undefended net.

About the no call, Drovdahl replied she had not seen enough to determine either way but reminded her players that, “Some calls are going to go your way. Some aren’t, and it usually works out. You can’t play without the refs, and you can only control what you can control.”

That hardly ended up mattering as BHS ran away with it in the second half, as Romney netted another goal, and junior Izzi Pujolar and senior Grace Rich added to the lead.

Drovdahl said her team controls its own destiny after BHS’s reclassification to 2A, an upsize to 19 athletes on the top roster and the return of freshmen to varsity action.

“It’s been two years since we had freshmen on varsity. For us, we want a program where those players are developing freshman and sophomore year and are playing varsity in the next two years. So right now, it’s just building those pieces of team chemistry trying to bring it all together.

Drovdahl hopes senior captains Romney, Rich and Arden De Lanoy lead the team—they are three players who earned their spots on varsity as freshmen. “They’ve always been great leaders and lead by example,” she said. “You can see it on the field that they control and dictate play. You play through them, and I moved all those captains up the field a little bit more today to break through that offsides trap.”

The Spartans (2-0) and Trojans (0-2-1) are scheduled to clash again Oct. 8 on Bainbridge Island.

Sam Donlon, right, gets rid of the ball just as Olympic senior Je’nya Kelley reaches her.