MILLER CITY – Spencerville and Miller City played a fast and furious pace in the first half and combined for five goals but were limited to just one combined in the second half as the two squads played to a 3-3 tie on Tuesday evening.
Bearcat sophomore Will Gallaspie sprinted through the Wildcats defense and blasted his 15th goal of the season with 20:31 remaining in the opening half to break a scoreless ballgame and put his team on top 1-0.
Miller City returned the favor against their visitors just a few minutes later when Zach Fillinger raced a ball past Spencerville keeper Dominic Adkins to tie the game at 1-1 with 18:39 left before the half.
A defensive miscue by the Bearcats afforded Wildcat forward CJ Lehman an opportunity he quickly cashed in on for a 2-1 lead just :16 after the Fillinger score with 18:23 on the clock.
Joel Van Gorder notched his eighth goal of the 2020 campaign with 16:39 to go on a bouncing ball he shot past Miller City’s Joe Deitering to tie up the score at 2-2.
The host Wildcats CJ Lehman struck for a second time in the game to put the blue and gold back on top at 3-2 with 10:11 remaining in the half as he kicked in a bouncer off of the post for a score.
Trailing 3-2 to open the second half the Bearcats found themselves trading field positioning with Miller City until they were able to send a ball racing through the midfield to Will Gallaspie who tied the game with his 16th goal of the season as the clock reached 26:20 to go.
Neither team were able to add to their total in the final minutes of the game and watched the clock tick down for the tie.
Miller City coach Kevin Deitering after the contest remarked “Spencerville was one of the fastest teams that we have faced this season and they had lots of weapons, especially up front. As much as I would have loved to have won, I felt like our guys competed and learned a lot tonight.”
Spencerville boss Josh Van Gorder opined “We had some defensive miscues tonight but our boys fought to earn the equalizer in the second half. We will take this game and learn and grow as players from it as a result.”
Miller City is now 5-2-2 on the season and will travel to take on Allen East on Saturday while the Bearcats (5-1-2) are back in action on Tuesday night when they welcome Fairlawn to Memorial Field.
Scoring:
1st half:
20:31 – Will Gallaspie (SV)
18:39 – Zach Fillinger (MC)
18:23 – CJ Lehman (MC)
16:39 – Joel Van Gorder (SV)
10:11 – CJ Lehman (MC)
2nd half:
26:30 – Will Gallaspie (SV)