Hanover tops Hebron

RENSSELAER — Hanover Central followed up their first Porter County Conference championship Monday night with another milestone, winning their first soccer sectional match with a convincing 5-1 win over Hebron.

The Wildcats, who are now 11-5 and will face Rensselaer at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, were led by freshman Alec Nirtaut, who scored two goals. Junior Rudy Grill added a goal and an assist.

All of the Wildcats’ goals came in the first half, with freshmen Eric Einsphar and Dylann Bakker scoring the other two Hanover Central goals. Einsphar’s goal came off a Grill shot in front of the net, that Einsphar picked up and banged into the goal.

Senior goalie Tyler Iliovicki had 12 saves for the Wildcats.

“Tyler is a big reason why we have had such a good season,” Wildcats coach Dan Grunewald said.

Nirtaut credited unselfish play for his two goals.

“We passed around the ball; we wanted to play as a team,” said Nirtaut, noting that the match was physical. “We tried to keep our composure.”

Hanover Central lost freshman starter Luke Bathurst for the remainder of the tourney with a possible broken ankle.

Hebron’s lone goal came midway into the second half, on a strong shot from Hawks junior Alexander Shrum.

Hebron got off to a good start, dominating play for the first eight minutes. But once Hanover found the net, they settled down.

“We came off a little sluggish,” Grunewald said. “We came out flat-footed and our passes weren’t (crisp). I think there were a lot of butterflies, but once we scored we loosened up.”

Hebron coach Zeljko Mijatovic said his team is still learning how to win.

“We won two games last season,” Mijatovic said. “This year we were 5-7-2. That’s a big improvement over last season.

“Our guys just didn’t finish, Hanover Central did. We made silly mistakes, and we were out of position (too often)..”

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