BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Though Pembroke entered the week at 3-2-1 and in prime position to advance to the postseason, consecutive losses to Bow and Portsmouth have put the Spartans’ playoff aspirations in peril.

Coach Pete Bisson said the team has the ability to bounce back.

“Now that we’ve built a very talented team, my expectation is to not repeat mistakes we’ve made already and, good or bad, use everything we do to further ourselves and hopefully put this team on the same page headed into the postseason,” said the first-year head coach. “To get there, we need to start winning and set ourselves up for that.”

Still, he said his squad was outplayed and outhustled in a 2-0 loss at Bow on Sept. 18.

“I think we allowed them to do the things they wanted to do and allowed them a lot of space and time to knock the ball around, while they closed our space and time,” said Bisson. “We weren’t able to get into any rhythm, and that’s what I’m trying to get them to understand – that we need to force teams to adapt to us rather than the other way around.”

Following the game, Bow coach George Pinkham recognized the superb play of sophomore Sam Hardy in net, saying his team easily could have put several other goals on the scoreboard.

Bisson agreed.

“Sam played very well. I think he had eight or nine saves and four or five of them, including a penalty kick, he came out of almost nowhere to stop the ball,” the Spartans’ coach said.

On Friday, Sept. 21, Pembroke lost at home, 2-1, to Portsmouth, despite controlling play for all but the last part of the game.

Junior Brandon Ricker tallied the Spartans’ lone score, continuing his strong offensive play. But Portsmouth netted both its goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

“We’re doing all the right things for part of the game, but not the entire game,” said Bisson. “I keep stressing they need to play 80 minutes and nothing less.”

Nearly every player on the 2007 Spartans, said Bisson, can plant the ball in the back of the net.