The Spartans were busy the past week, facing two teams back to back with no practices in between. Originally scheduled to face three teams last week, the team’s game against Parkway South on Thursday was cancelled due to rain and rescheduled for April 15, leaving the team with two games against Chaminade and DeSmet.

On Saturday, the team had its home match against Chaminade and won 15-0. The match, however, was hardly a match at all according to Coach Jason Becker. Coach Becker described how the Spartans dominated the entire match.

“Chaminade just had a ton of trouble completing passes. The entire game was over in under an hour, and I’d say they possessed the disc maybe ten minutes of that time,” Coach Becker said. “So, this wasn’t the story of our greatness, but of Chaminade’s struggles.”

Senior Kyle McCormack thought the game went well for the team, noting how the team was in sync with all of its plays. McCormack described how the game flowed well for the team during the whole match.

“It worked out nicely because our defense was clicking, and our offense was just playing off our defense. Everything was just working, so it worked out well for the team,” McCormack said. “Our zone defense was able to lock [the other team] down. They weren’t able to get the first completion, which is always key, and we were able to make quick transition points off of that.”

Following its dominating victory on Saturday, the team went on to face a tough match against last year’s state championship winning team, the DeSmet Sparties. Losing 15-7, the Spartans took a tough loss against their opponents. According to McCormack, the team fought hard to keep up with the other team’s score but by the end was unable to do so.

“It was a close game at the beginning. We got a little tired at the end,” McCormack said. “We have a lot of new players on the team, so as the season progresses they’ll get more experienced, the team will learn, and it should help us get better. It was a good learning experience to face a team like DeSmet because they’ve won state like six years in a row.”

According to Coach Becker, the game looked optimistic near the beginning, but however had a quick turn around in DeSmet soon after. Coach Becker described how the game went for the Spartans and detailed what the team needs to do to improve for its performance for next week.

“We got out to a strong start, trading points until we sat at 5-5. From that moment on, DeSmet tightened up [its] man-to-man defense, and we had difficulty starting each possession. Our defense gave us plenty of chances, earning turns behind the energetic play of [senior] Ben Schneider and [senior] Bryan Tracy, but our offense just couldn’t convert,” Coach Becker said. “As the game got into the second half, DeSmet called a few travels, which resulted in goals being called back; however, we’re not going to blame the loss on those few calls. We’re just going to get back to work in practice this week, focus on what we can control, and start looking forward to our contest with Priory this weekend.”

Looking at what the team specifically could do well in its upcoming game, McCormack believed that the team could improve a few things to prepare. McCormack stated that the team could improve the way it initiates its matches for a better team performance.

“[We could improve] how we initiate the offense to begin with. With the rest of the offense and I, we need to do a better job getting open for our handlers, so we can make more plays,” McCormack said.

In anticipation for next week, McCormack described his excitement for the upcoming match. According to McCormack, the team’s home game against Priory this Sunday at 1 p.m. has been a big rivalry match that the team has been looking forward to playing.

“It’s going to be a tough game. We always have close games with them. It’s a big rivalry game, I would say, for us,” McCormack said. “We usually can come out on top, so I think we can come out with a victory if we do what we know we’re able to do.”