Pioneers upend Ottoville boys 3-1

Published:  Saturday, October 11, 2008 (1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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By MICHAEL WRASMAN
The Delphos Herald

OTTOVILLE — In a mild upset, the Lima Temple Christian Pioneers scored three first-half goals and made the lead stand up by defeating the Ottoville Big Green 3-1 in a non-league boys soccer matchup Thursday evening at the Ottoville Sports Complex.
Ottoville honored its seniors and their parents prior to the contest.
LTC outshot the Green 28-14 in the first half, beating the hosts to the ball most of the way and with most of the action being played on the LTC offensive side of the field.
“Lima Temple Christian’s a good team,” Ottoville coach Eric Gerker commented. “They beat us in every way, shape and form in the first half. They had better movement without the ball in the first half. They did much better executing. The bottom line is we did not come ready to play. In the first half, we came out extra flat to start.”
Ottoville’s Derek Miller missed an attempt with 31:35 remaining in the first.
LTC junior Zach White (2 assists) missed on a penalty kick at the 30:15 mark. Sophomore Elisha Shannon missed on a breakaway boot, which Ottoville senior goalkeeper Garrett Rayman (5 saves) scooped up with 29:30 to go.
Sophomore Josh Link scored the contest’s first goal at the 23:13 mark.
At the 16:52 mark, White shot the ball, which Rayman saved. But the ball trickled out of his hands, which an opportunistic Link goaled for LTC in giving the Allen County guests a 2-0 advantage.
LTC keeper Josh Weiss registered 17 saves.
“Josh is a very good goalie,” Pioneer coach Dave Shannon commented. “He’s one of the best in the state. Josh makes good decisions.”
White scored for LTC at the 5:32 mark, giving the visitors a 3-0 pad.
Miller missed on a penalty boot with 1:31 remaining to leave the halftime deficit at 3, shocking the Ottoville fans.
Weiss continued to bedevil the Big Green offense the second half, saving several attempts.
Senior forward Andrew Koch put a throw-in into the goal at the 18:17 mark, which the Green supporters thought was a goal. However, since no Pioneer players touched the ball, the referees ruled it was not a goal.
The Big Green failed to goal on three penalty kicks, with senior Collin Rue missing at 8:10 and at 6:38; senior Matt Niemeyer also misfired.
Koch goaled past a diving Weiss at the 3:21 mark.
“We did better in the second half,” Gerker noted. “We got to the ball better in the second half. We’re not where I want them to be at this point in the season.”
The Big Green (10-3-2) took 42 shots (28 in the second half). LTC took 31 shots on goal.
“We’ll go back at it against New Knoxville,” Gerker concluded.
Ottoville battles the homestanding Rangers at 5 p.m. tonight.
“I tried to save my players,” Sutton concluded. “Usually, I switch offensive and defensive players. Tonight, I subbed only a few players in. I wanted to make my team tired because we have tournaments starting next week.”
The Pioneers host Ada at 11 a.m. Saturday.
In the junior varsity contest, the Big Green and the Kalida Wildcats battled to a scoreless tie.

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