Spencerville’s Zack Zerbe shoots against Lincolnview’s Roewen Sutton during Tuesday’s match at Memorial Field in Spencerville.
SPENCERVILLE – Northwest Conference play resumed on Tuesday night at Memorial Field and the host Bearcats put together a 4-0 victory over Lincolnview.
The Lancers entered the evening with four games under their belt and zero goals scored on the season. It wasn’t a lack of effort that kept the Lincolnview off the scoreboard, it was Spencerville’s defense that stepped up on many occasions.
Sophomore goalkeeper Chase Prine knocked down all nine shots faced in the win.
Confidence continues to build for Prine, who took over the starting job with big shoes to fill after the Cats graduated four-year keeper Brennen Lehman. Prine made his sixth start of the season and recorded his second shutout.
“I feel like as a team we played really well tonight but there were little parts that we can improve on,” Prine said. “Cam Modic played an amazing game and knocked down a few big shots before they got to me. Our defense has really helped me out with their play.”
“We are watching a kid grow up right before our eyes,” said Spencerville coach Josh Van Gorder. “Chase (Prine) had a tough battle against Miller City in the season opener where he learned a lot. Every game and every practice since then, you can see him developing. Not just skills, but confidence and he’s turning into the goalie we need him to be.”
On the offense side of the ball, the Bearcats wasted little time putting the ball into the net.
With 35:17 and 26:20 to play in the first half, Zach Zerbe collected his sixth and seventh goals of the season on perfectly placed shots.
“Our team is moving the ball very well. For me, I just work on speed and running around people,” Zerbe said. “If I can just run and be faster than the guy behind me, it gives me confidence. With AJ (Boop) back in the lineup we have another guy that can run with me on the sides and that creates opportunities for both of us to open lanes up and crash down on the ball.”
Spencerville earned a direct kick and Noah Stewart placed the ball off the foot of AJ Boop for the Bearcats third goal of the first half. Stewart added to his team-high assists (4) with three on Tuesday night.
“Noah (Stewart) is defining what we want as a captain in Spencerville,” Van Gorder said. “We want tough play. We want to win the ball, direct teammates and then set up the next play. Noah is doing all of that for us right now.”
Lincolnview changed its tune in the second half with aggression on both sides of the ball, but the pesky defense of the Bearcats halted their opportunities.
The Lancers outshot Spencerville 7-3 in the final 40 minutes.
“Lincolnview gave us a great fight tonight. We knew that their goalie (Mason Waltmire) is a stud. He’s a first-team all-conference selection, and he deserves that,” Van Gorder said. “We knew that if we were going to score the ball, we had to work the ball as a team. Don’t just take a shot because it is there, take an extra touch if you need to and the times that we did, we were rewarded for that in the first half. We talk a lot about winning one versus one battles and we did that in the first half. The second half they turned up the heat, but we had multiple guys play out of their minds when we got tired tonight.”
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com
