DELPHOS – Saturday morning the Delphos Jefferson Wildcats scored their first win in the Battle of Route 66 as they defeated rival Spencerville 4-1.
The short handed Bearcats kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for nearly the entire first half until Kyrstin Moore notched her 10th goal of the season with :33 remaining as she put a spin move on a defender and raced a ball into the goal for a 1-0 Jefferson lead.
Spencerville’s Raigan Staup nearly tied the contest at 35:50 to go in the second half with a laser shot from close to 40 yards out but watched as it was stopped by Jefferson keeper Lillian Baugh on a spectacular save to keep her slate clean.
“I wish we could have converted a few more of the chances we had today” said Spencerville fifth year head coach Kathy Goecke on her teams performance after the game.
Nearly four minutes later the visiting Bearcats came close to tying the contest again thanks to a defensive miscue by Jefferson but were unable to send a ball over the defensive wall just in front of the goal as it flew off of the turned back of Alyvia Lindeman who charged the ball sent in by Sydney LeMar.
Lindeman put the home squad on top 2-0 with 15:40 remaining as she sent a slow roller to the back of the box from the top of the 18 for her fourth marker of the season.
Raigan Staup pulled Spencerville to within 2-1 with 13:29 left as she jumped over a sliding attempt to stop the ball by Baugh and footed one into the back of the net for her team leading fourth score of the year.
Delphos Jefferson pushed their lead back to a pair of goals with 11:27 to go on a lead pass from Noel Warnement to Kyra Foust that was sent upper left for a 3-1 advantage.
Foust would strike again just under a minute later for the final point of the contest as she blasted a shot along the bottom side and past the Bearcats keeper for a 4-1 lead with 10:38 before the final horn.
In three previous meetings between the two teams the Bearcats had posted a trio of shutouts and had outscored their rivals 16-0.
Wildcats coach Josiah Stober, himself a Spencerville graduate opined after the game “I think we started out really slow today. In the first half we gave Spencerville too much space but our pressure picked up in the second half. I was very proud of our girls of how they responded after they got their first goal, they didn’t hang their heads and they kept playing hard. I give credit to Spencerville for playing hard with their limited number.”
Due to injuries the Bearcats were forced to play the contest with just 10 players and for a couple of minutes in the game just nine when Cloey Ehrnsberger headed to the bench to be assessed.
Spencerville has now lost eight straight matchups since defeating Miller City to begin the season and will next be in action on Thursday evening at 7:00 P.M. when they welcome Delphos St. Johns to Memorial Field.
Jefferson improves to 3-7-1 and will travel to Convoy on Monday night to battle the Crestview Knights.