SPENCERVILLE – Though scoreless through the first nearly 70 minutes of the contest the LCC T-Birds scored twice in the final 11 minutes of Thursday evenings WOSL contest to defeat host Spencerville 2-0.
Missing a handful of players on each side the two teams traded the ball for most of the contest between the goal boxes and field positioning to be coming at a premium.
Lima Central Catholic got on the scoreboard first with 11:40 remaining in the second half following a handball call on the Spencerville defense on a bouncing ball inside the box that was touched by a defender when junior Annika Wilker rocketed her fifth score of the season past sophomore keeper Emma Core for a 1-0 lead.
Penalty kick goal by @LCCGirlsSoccer Annika Wilker puts Lcc up 1-0 with 11:40 remaining pic.twitter.com/q6bPdVvrgu
— Michael Hirn (@MichaelHirnPBP) September 18, 2020
Starting her first career game in goal, Core responded to the challenge of the LCC offense’s rushes as she stopped multiple shots in the contest and played bouncing balls from the Memorial Field turf well for a majority of the game.
Unfortunately for Core however the T-Birds offense struck again with just :20 to go on a rush by multiple players to extend their lead to 2-0 on a Sophia Luchini putback of a teammates miss for her team leading sixth goal of the season.
On the evening the visitors earned eight corner kicks to the Bearcats zero opportunities.
In four previous meetings between the two WOSL squads the teams split their wins but this LCC victory stops a two-game losing streak in the series for the T-Birds.
Lima Central Catholic moves to 5-3 on the season with their third straight victory and will find themselves off until next Thursday, September 24th when they travel to Delphos to battle the St. Johns Blue Jays.
Spencerville has now dropped five straight matchups since beating Miller City in their season opener and will travel to Evergreen on Saturday afternoon for a non-league matchup.