Lima Senior 7 Fremont Ross 2

On a wild and crazy evening at Lima Stadium the Spartans came away with a 7 - 2 victory over the visiting Little Giants of Fremont Ross.  Clear skies and game time temperatures near 70 degrees made it an ideal evening for soccer. Veteran referees Dave Webb and Kevin Fischer were on hand to oversee the action on the field.

The Spartans began their assault on the Little Giants goal almost from the opening whistle and finally broke through in the 13th minute of the match when Danny Grundisch played Hunter Vermillion in behind the defense along the right flank.  Vermillion executed a bow tie moving allowing the hard charging Ross sweeper to go by him and then beat the on-coming goalkeeper to the side netting at the back post from a distance of 15 yards.



In the 19th minute of the match a Spartan free kick from near midfield was deflected to the ground along the top of the Little Giant penalty area. An opportunistic Alex Ehora pounced on the loose ball and volleyed it into the back of the net near the left post giving Lima Senior a 2 - 0 lead.

Less than 5 minutes later Vermillion won a Ross goal kick 45 yards from goal from where he played Ehora in behind the defense. Ehora cut the ball back behind the momentum of a Ross defender and struck a laser from 15 yards out to left side of the netting.

It was at this point that frustration began to set in for Fremont Ross. The atmosphere turned from a match between friendly rivals to a contest marred by a parade of yellow card cautions and a red card send off in the second half of the match.  To the Spartans credit, they maintained their composure and did not escalate the situation to something worse than it did become.

At the 49:51 mark of the match Fremont looked to make a match of it when off a long throw-in Little Giant midfielder Taylor Beeler headed a ball into the back of the goal at near post. The Spartans took less than 2 minutes to answer when Ehora drove a free kick into the Little Giants penalty area and onto the head of Taylor Merricle. The shot hit the back post and bounced right onto the foot of Jacob Meyer who buried the shot on goal restoring the Spartans three goal lead at 4 -1.

Less than a minute later Fremont Ross was called for a foul in their own penalty area providing Lima Senior with a penalty kick try. Spartan defender Levi Quintero stepped to the mark and calmly placed the ball into the side netting at the left post to extend Lima's lead to 5 - 1.

A little over 3 minutes later Fremont Ross was again whistled for a foul in their own penalty area setting up another penalty kick attempt for Lima.  This time it was John Merkle who stepped to the penalty mark. Merkle's shot was a bit too strong going over the top of the goal.

In the 61st minute Austin Anderson broke free of the Ross defense carrying the ball down the right flank. He cut in towards goal and as a Little Giant defender came to engage him Anderson slotted a pace to teammate Luis Mendez who played a one touch shot into the back of the net for the Spartans 6th goal of the evening. Great team work overall and a heady play by Anderson to engage the Ross goalkeeper and draw a defender to himself setting Mendez up for the goal. Well played gentlemen!

Four minutes later the Little Giants were called for yet another foul inside their own penalty area. I would be remiss if I did not note that these fouls committed by the Little Giants in their penalty were blatant and right in front of the referee. Merkle again stepped to the mark for the Spartans this time drilling his shot to the upper 90 at the right side of the goal.

At the 69:38 mark the fouling by Ross players crossed the line as a defender attempted a football tackle on a Spartan ball carrier. Fortunately that ball carrier was Aaron Reed the physically imposing starting goalkeeper turned forward in the second half. The attempt was almost comical in nature due to the size differential between the Ross player and Reed. Nonetheless the action and and words directed at the official brought about a red card send off for the Ross player. 

Taking Reed's place in the Spartan goal was Caleb Grundisch and at the 76:28 mark in the game he made a spectacular punch save of a shot attempt off a Ross direct free kick from approximately 45 yards out along the right flank.

In the games closing moments the Spartans were whistled for handling in their own penalty area providing the Little Giants a penalty kick try. Nate Domarentz (sp?) stepped to the mark and beat Caleb Grundisch to his left to bring the score to 7-2 in favor of Lima senior and complete the scoring for tonight's contest.

I cannot recall a time ever witnessing a high school match with 4 penalty kicks awarded during regulation time. A special mention goes to the referees for maintaining control of a match and associated situations that could have turned ugly. Shout out to the Spartans players and coaches who responded with composure and class when confronted with excessive fouling. Congratulations on the win and Good Luck the rest of the season!