SPENCERVILLE – Tuesdays physical contest at Memorial Field was decided by a single shot as the host Bearcats downed visiting Miller City 1-0.
Moved up to attempt to avoid the incoming weather the contest quickly turned into a battle of wills as the two sides traded early opportunities in the opponent zone with fast paced offensive chances.
Spencerville’s first big opportunity to put a score on the board came with just under 28 minutes remaining in the opening half but was thwarted when Miller City goalie Joseph Deitering launched himself across the front of the net and pushed away a would be Bearcat goal with a highlight level stop.
Emerson Layman gave the host team their first and only goal of the contest just moments later however as he redirected a pair of point blank shots by teammates through a hole in the bottom half of the net past a diving Deitering to take a 1-0 lead with 21:23 to go in the half.
Through a physical second half the teams again traded shots and watched as each keeper continued to make spectacular save after save to keep the score 1-0.
Miller City out shot the Bearcats on the evening but were unable to score on Spencerville keeper Brennan Lehman in the game and found themselves stopped by defender Josh Henline with 7:30 remaining as he was knocked down by a Wildcat strike that bounced off of his chest and kept the game scoreless.
“We moved Emerson Layman all around the field tonight and he worked his tail off to score off that corner kick. Tyler Kaverman had an incredible game and Josh Henline came way out of his shell. I need to give props to Beau Miller as well, he played up to the level we expect from him. This was a complete team effort against a very good team that I’m glad went our way” remarked Spencerville head coach Josh Van Gorder.
Spencerville improves to 4-4 on the season and will next be in action on Thursday evening as they host Lima Senior at Memorial Field with a 7:00 P.M. kickoff.
Miller City (7-4) begins a pair of home contests on Thursday night as they play host to Indian Lake at 5:00 P.M.