Whether he’s saving a shot or blocking a wild pitch, Daniel Spencer has one main role as a two-sport athlete at Glenbrook North.
He’s a backstop.
Spencer is a goalkeeper on the Spartans boys soccer team in the fall and a catcher on the baseball team in the spring.
With the Spartans’ 3-0 win over Taft in the title game of the Class 3A Niles North Regional on Saturday, the senior goalkeeper earned his 15th shutout of the season.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Spencer helped top-seeded Glenbrook North (18-3-1) advance to the New Trier Sectional semifinals against fourth-seeded Leyden at 5 p.m. Wednesday. It was during the playoffs last year that Spencer asserted himself.
“He was our backup pretty much the entire year last year, until towards the end of the season when he kind of took over and took the starting job,” Glenbrook North coach Paul Vignocchi said. “Last year at this time was when he started playing his best soccer, and this is the time of year when we need him the most.”
For much of last season, Spencer made the occasional start, mostly against weaker opponents; however, he eventually caught the coaches’ attention.
“I think maybe they just saw how hard I was working in practice and then I just sort of got into a groove,” Spencer said. “They put me in and it just worked. It could have backfired on them, but it didn’t. It worked.”
Spencer helped Glenbrook North reach the sectional final last season. The Spartans lost to Evanston on penalty kicks.
With the Spartans’ backline of senior Mason Rose, senior Evan Goldberg, junior Ben Gordon and junior Nate Aronson playing well on Saturday, Spencer mainly had to contend with services into the goalmouth from distance by eighth-seeded Taft (11-7-4).
The 5-foot-7 Spencer left his line aggressively to pick those balls out of the air throughout the game.
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“He’s kind of a small guy and other teams might look at that as an advantage, but when you watch him jump, he’s getting way up over other guys,” Rose said. “You saw him come out and get way up to punch a ball away (on Saturday).”
Spencer’s quickness and aggressive style are aided by another one of his chief qualities.
“He’s got great hands,” Vignocchi said. “He was good in the air (Saturday) and that’s what we need for him to do. He’s very composed and doesn’t get nervous, and he’s just a good athlete. He had a great game (Saturday).”
The regional title game was scoreless at halftime, but Spartans senior Sahil Modi broke through 10 minutes into the second half with a goal from deep on the left side that caromed in off a Taft defender.
Deng Deng Kur, a senior, scored on a free kick from 20 yards out at 62 minutes and buried a penalty kick soon thereafter for the game’s final tally.
Spencer’s biggest threat came on a Taft free kick taken from 40 yards out with 10 minutes left in regulation. Spencer leapt to tip it over the crossbar and maintain the shutout.
“It was knuckling and even if it was going over, I just wanted to be safe on it,” Spencer said. “Especially in the last minutes of a game, that’s no point for stupid goals.”
When the season ends, Spencer will take off his goalkeeper gloves for good in favor of a catcher’s mitt. He intends to wear that glove at the next level.
“I’m a baseball player and I’m going to try to play baseball in college,” Spencer said. “But I love soccer. I started playing in net when I was 10. It’s obviously a completely different game, you get a different view, and I love the game.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press