Cats seeking to regain winning form in 2021

SPENCERVILLE – Entering their sixth season as a program the Spencerville Bearcat girls soccer program is seeking a return to form that amounted to back to back NWC titles and a regional appearance just two seasons ago after a disappointing 2020.

Following a 16-4 mark in 2019 the Bearcats said goodbye to eight of their 15 players that helped to mold the program into a perennial contender for the Northwest Conference crown and into a team that ultimately suffered their first losing season with a 2-10-1 mark in 2020.

While losses to graduation are commonplace in high school athletics the Bearcats have been hit particularly hard following the past two campaigns as they enter this season minus nine of their 14 contributors from a year ago.

Head coach Kathy Goecke is the only coach the program has ever known and sports a 43-32-4 record remarked of her expectations for this year “Our goal this year is to continue to recruit, stay healthy, improve, develop, enjoy the game as well as keep the program going so that girls continue to have the opportunity to play.  There are 40 promising girls playing in 5th to 8th grade and the numbers continue to look strong in the younger grades.”

Between the pipes this season Spencerville will turn to junior Jaelynn Boop who will be competing in her first year of high school soccer who will look to mesh with the teams four returning starters Alexandra Greer, Grace Goecke, Ashley Fetzer, and Sydney LeMar to put the program back near the top of the conference standings.

Greer and Goecke, both sophomores play as a defensive midfielder and midfielder respectively while junior classmates Fetzer and LeMar lead the defensive and midfield troops for the Bearcats.

Sophomore defender/midfielder Kaitlynn Brooks joins a pair of seniors in Ava Boedicker and Paige Love that Goecke says “shows promise and adds athleticism to the team” respectively for a young team entering the season.

Five freshmen will earn their stripes sprinting up and down the Memorial Field turf this season for Spencerville in the form of varsity newcomers Sydney Brinkman, Mackenzie Vasquez, Emma Clark, Cara Schwartz, and Rachel Ringwald.

Spencerville kicks off their 2021 run on Monday, August 26th at 7:00 when they play host to a Miller City squad they opened 2020 against with a 2-1 victory.