Bowling Green junior Luca Brininger (15) kicks a shot on goal during the first half of a soccer match against Fremont Ross on Tuesday at Bobcat Stadium. BG defeated Fremont Ross 4-1. (Scott W. Grau/Sentinel-Tribune)
Bowling Green junior forward Luca Brininger scored a three-goal hat trick to lead the Bobcats to a 4-1 boys soccer victory over Fremont Ross Tuesday, but a soccer match being played elsewhere was just as big for BG.
In Holland, Sylvania Southview played Springfield to a scoreless tie, so next Tuesday the Blue Devils and Bobcats will play for the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division championship.
“It’s huge,” Brininger said. “Our school has never won the league before so it would be great knowing that when we go into that Springfield game, if we win that we win the league.”
BG improves to 11-2 overall and 7-2 in the NLL, while Springfield fell to 8-2-4 and 7-1-1. Springfield won on their pitch, 3-2, on September 12, but the rematch at Bobcat Stadium will take place at 7 p.m. on October 10.
When the now 11-school NLL split into a big school Buckeye Division and a smaller school Cardinal Division, there were a lot of questions about who might be the new teams to win titles, especially in the Cardinal Division.
Now that question is being answered, but the Bobcats had to beat a stingy 1-10-2 Fremont Ross (0-7-1, NLL) team Tuesday, and blowouts are just not happening in league play. Even Southview is just 7-5-2 and 5-4-1, despite tying Springfield Tuesday.
“It’s been a fun season,” BG coach Josh Fox said. “We were curious on how the two divisions would work, how it would be playing teams twice, which proved to be difficult going through a second time, like tonight was a good example. When teams know each other that well, it can be a grind.”
BG outshot Ross 46-7, including 29-5 in shots on net, but the way the Little Giants were playing, it appeared they wanted it that way.
They were willing to defend their goal and try and score over the top, and it kept the Little Giants in the game through halftime.
Plus, Fremont Ross junior goalkeeper Cole Kinsley was diving, jumping, and stopping potential scores all over the place, getting 25 saves. He also was busy taking 24 goal kicks and 23 booming punts, which nearly always cleared midfield in flight.
“The keeper did a good job all night, props to him. He was great,” Brininger said.
It took almost 19 minutes for BG to score, but ultimately junior forward Tomas Meek took possession into the right corner, and crossed left to Brininger, who scored with 21:02 remaining in the first half.
“The ball came in, Tomas Meek played me the ball and I took a touch, beat the defender and placed it in the corner,” Brininger said.
Meek scored one of his own less than four minutes later and it appeared as if the rout was on. But the Little Giants had an answer.
Off a through ball from senior midfielder Collin Booher, sophomore defender Gabe Wensinger beat the Bobcats’ defense and sent a 30-yard shot sailing past BG senior goalkeeper Max Haynes, ruining his potential clean sheet.
The Bobcats, leading by just one at the half, regrouped, and Brininger popped a 25-yard shot into the net two shots after a BG corner kick opportunity, giving BG a 3-1 lead five minutes and 40 seconds after the second half kickoff.
For his third goal, Brininger got a little help from a Meek cross again, putting BG up by three goals with 27:48 remaining in the game.
“The second goal, the ball got deflected out (off a corner kick) and I just placed it,” Brininger said. “The third one, again Tomas Meek beat the whole team, played it into me and I finished it.”
Brininger and Meek play so well together, it’s easy to see that when one moves one way the other moves the opposite direction, keeping the proper spacing. It’s something they’ve been doing nearly all their lives.
“We’ve been playing together since D-league, since we were 4-years-old,” Brininger said. “I think it’s just a thing we developed over time. We just naturally play together, play as one, if you want to say it like that.”
Brininger and Meek lead BG with 25 points each, but for Brininger it is on 12 goals and one assist, for Meek it is on eight goals and nine assists.
“Those two have had a really good season,” Fox said. “Luca has come a long way from just last year, just playing more under control, seeing the game better and making those runs in behind and finding those gaps.
“His shots have improved, he seems to be on target more and finding the back of the net more,” Fox continued.
“Tomas, you know, is just a really talented player who can also score but also sets his teammates up and does a little bit of everything. It will be nice to have them back next year as well so we’re taking a peek at that, too.”
