Allen East’s Manny Rettig and Spencerville’s Noah Stewart compete for the ball during Monday’s match at Memorial Field in Spencerville.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
SPENCERVILLE — Spencerville closed out its Northwest Conference schedule with a physical 6-1 victory over Allen East on Monday night at Memorial Field.
Less than six minutes had ticked off the first-half clock before the Bearcats had a three-goal lead thanks to Noah Stewart who scored for the ninth time this season at the 36:43 mark and senior Jon Altieri who found the back of the net twice within 42 seconds.
“Jon (Altieri) has great feet and has had some trouble getting separation this season. Tonight, he was working the touchline and found space,” said Spencerville head coach Josh Van Gorder. “We know he can finish, and he found himself in position to create for himself and his teammates tonight.”
Spencerville outshot Allen East 11-3 in the first half.
The Mustangs last scored a goal on Sept. 5th in a 7-1 loss to New Knoxville but Manny Rettig snapped that skid with 1:44 to play in the first half to cut the lead to two.
“In the first half, we controlled the pace of play and our guys were hungry from the start,” said Van Gorder. “This is our first home game in over two and a half weeks and the guys were so excited to be here for senior night.”
Allen East carried that momentum from Rettig’s goal into the second half and became more aggressive on offense. The Mustangs fired a pair of quick shots at Bearcat keeper Chase Prine, but he didn’t flinch.
It was mid-way into the second half before Spencerville broke through again on Allen East’s defense. With 20:06 remaining, senior Beau Kyler scored to increase the lead back to three goals.
“In the second half, they spread us out a little bit more,” said Van Gorder. “They were a little hungry and we had trouble finding our pace, but we stuck with it. I don’t think they controlled us in the second half, it was just a little sloppy.”
In the late moments of the game, the Bearcats stretched out their lead with a pair of visually dramatic goals.
Jon Altieri completed his hat trick with 1:35 remaining on a bicycle kick that sent the ball into the right corner of the net. 28 seconds later, Zach Zerbe tacked on his team-high 10th goal of the season.
“Logan Helser for Allen East was such a great player. He stopped a lot of what we tried to do inside, that’s why we moved Zach to the outside to try and get him some more space,” Van Gorder said. “He (Zerbe) had a couple opportunities and was getting frustrated, so it was nice to see him get one because nobody runs on this turf like Zach does.
“It’s a little indicative of how our season has gone. We go in droughts and then can strike quickly. We have guys that can finish but we are learning how to continuously be a good soccer team. Our kids work hard every day for me and they have a great attitude. We have a good thing going right now.”
Box score
Allen East 1 0 – 1
Spencerville 3, 3 – 6
Scoring Summary
(SV) 36:43 / 1st – Noah Stewart
(SV) 34:54 / 1st – Jon Altieri
(SV) 34:12 / 1st – Jon Altieri
(AE) 1:44 / 1st – Manny Rettig
(SV) 20:06 / 2nd – Beau Kyler
(SV) 1:35 / 2nd – Jon Altieri
(SV) 1:07 / 2nd – Zach Zerbe
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com
