Coach Jamie Ard’s Bainbridge High School Bearcats soccer team tied the Cairo High School Syrupmakers, 1-1, Wednesday in Cairo, Ga.

Ard was pleased with his team’s defensive performance.

“Both teams scored their goals in the first half,” he said. “While we and Cairo had chances to score in the second half, the defenses stepped up to meet the challenge.”

Louis Mejia scored the Bearcats’ goal in the 13th minute to take a 1-0 lead. The Syrupmakers’ tying goal came in the 26th minute.

“Obviously, being a Bainbridge native and former Bearcats player myself, you never want to lose to Cairo,” Ard said. “Although a victory is preferred, a tie with a quality team such as the Syrupmakers makes you feel good about your team.

“The field was quite saturated from all the rain, and I thought that may have impacted play for both teams. Also, not being able to train for four straight days due to weather impacts the way your team plays.”

Ard said his team still needs to do a better job of finishing its offensive strikes.

“I was quite pleased with most everything we did,” he said. “We really did a nice job possessing the ball. Everything attack-wise was pretty good, except for the finishing on goal-scoring chances.

“We were plagued by not being able to finish our possessions with goals when we had the opportunities. Defensively we got out of position at times and we paid for it one time when Cairo scored their goal.”