Spencer boys earn first playoff win in program history

There was mild celebration after the Spencer boys topped Westside-Augusta 3-1 on Thursday in the first round of the Class 3A soccer playoffs. It was, after all, the team’s first playoff victory in program history.

But coach Marvin Broadwater said the team has much bigger goals than just one win, so any excitement has to be shortlived.

“We’re going back to work tomorrow,” he told his team. “I need all 23 of you out there at practice.”

Spencer, which won the Region 2-3A championship with a perfect region record this season, faces the winner of No. 2-seed West Hall and No. 3 Sonoraville in the second round next Tuesday. West Hall is the defending Class 3A champion.

Broadwater said it was a huge deal for his team to get its first playoff win in program history.

“We’re just trying to become one of those perennial programs,” he said. “We want people, when they think of soccer, to think of Spencer.”

On Thursday, the Greenwave didn’t let the moment get too big for them, though, scoring barely eight minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead that it would never relinquish.

Jhovani Leon-Perez took a pass to the ride side of the box and fed it into the back left corner of the net to put Spencer ahead. The team continued its pressure throughout the first half, but couldn’t get much traction until, finally, it added one more goal before the break.

Daniel Robles knocked the ball slowly toward the left of the goal. It looked like the ball would be saved easily, but instead it trickled past the Westside keeper into the net. Spencer led 2-0 at the break.

“We like to go up like that into the half,” Broadwater said. “It took some pressure off, but then I thought we left too many goals out there on the field after that.”

Spencer did add one more goal on a penalty kick by Robles in the 60th minute of the contest. After he had been fouled in the box, he lined up and knocked the kick easily into the left corner of the goal to go ahead 3-0.

Westside added one of its own on a penalty kick in the final minutes, but the contest was in hand by that point.

Both Robles and Rony Rodriguez tallied assists in the contest, as well, and Carsten Rauch nearly completed the shutout in goal.

Despite the win, Broadwater said there were still plenty of mistakes the team needed to correct. There were goals left on the field, he said, and a clean game as far as penalties go was ruined in the final minutes of the game. Going forward, those kinds of mistakes can’t be made, he said.

“Right now, we’re in the top 16,” he said. “Having a clean sheet going forward is huge. Every team we face is going to be one of the best.”

The Greenwave will host West Hall/Sonoraville at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kinnett Stadium.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Spencer boys earn first playoff win in program history."