SPENCERVILLE – Ottoville senior Aly Saxton netted a trio of goals to help lift her Big Green past host Spencerville 4-0 at Memorial Field on Saturday afternoon.
Entering play following a 5-2 win that saw teammate Jessa Burgei net four goals against Delphos Jefferson the Big Green forward who was responsible for the only other score that night found herself with lanes to run against the undermanned Bearcats.
Ottoville’s first goal of the contest came at the 19:15 mark as Eryn Kemper raced a pass near the front of the goal to Burgei who sent a line drive past Spencerville keeper Jaelynn Boop to put the visitors on top 1-0.
Just in front of the halftime break Ottoville upped their lead to 2-0 with just :11 remaining as a header into the turf by Saxton caused Boop and a defender to crash into one another and bounce off the turn sharply and into the goal for a score.
While the Bearcats found their shots hard to come by the Big Green utilized their deep bench and fresh substitutions to wear down their opponents and send frequent shots at Spencerville’s first year keeper.
Aly Saxton’s second marker of the contest came with 33:22 left in the contest as she sent a strike from 25 yards out towards Boop that skipped sideways off the Memorial Field turf once again and into the net for a 3-0 lead for the Big Green.
Goal three of the game and fourth of the season for the Ottoville senior came with 18:14 as Saxton utilized her left foot to turn a ball from five yards out into the final marker of the contest for a 4-0 advantage.
Though the Bearcats found themselves outshot mightily by their opponents on the afternoon and trailing in corner kicks 13-2, sixth year head coach Kathy Goecke found the good in the contest as she stated “I’m very proud of how hard these girls play as we had no subs and at times were down a player. With a very young team and several players new to soccer and their positions, we set the up on a couple of goals but we continue to improve and even get a few offensive opportunities.”
“Jaelynn did a fantastic job in goal, we had her for 18 saves today and for someone who has never played keeper before and is in just her second came that’s great” Goecke continued after the game about her keeper who has not played soccer since grade school before this season.
Ottoville improves to 2-1 on the season with the win and has outscored opponents this season 10-4 through their first three games. Next up for the Big Green is Allen East on Thursday at 5:00 P.M. in Ottoville.
Spencerville (0-2) will be in action on Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. hosting Columbus Grove in NWC play and on Thursday at 6:00 P.M. in WOSL play as they travel to Coldwater.
Goals:
19:15 – Jessa Burgei (OV)
:11 – Aly Saxton (OV)
33:22 – Aly Saxton (OV)
18:14 – Aly Saxton (OV)