EHS Nabs First Win, St. A, Altamont Claim Soccer Victories

VANDALIA -- Effingham High School bounced Vandalia to the tune of 9-0 in soccer competition Thursday.

In the first half, Parker Siner tallied the first goal for the Hearts on an assist by Noah Mulheron. Danny Hortenstine then placed the second goal in the net on an assist by Josh Bowlin.

Hortenstine then put in the third goal and Deryl Pleasant assisted. Kaleb Blake found the net with an assist from Hortenstine. Maria Dust then scored his second goal on an assist by Bowlin. Per Kristian Eide took in the final goal before the half, making the score 6-0.

In the second half, Hortenstine found the goal again for his second on an assist by Mulheron. Bowlin then scored back-to-back goals to finish out.

"This was a good game fo us to try to work on some outside play," said EHS Coach Lee Althoff. "It gave us a lot of confidence that will be beneficial for the rest of the season."

At Olney

"Another wonderful evening," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales. "The sun was out just enough and the breeze was just so perfect."

Effingham St. Anthony traveled to Olney to play against the Tigers Thursday and the Bulldogs won 3-0.

"The team played very well tonight," said Morales. "Just eight minutes into the game Wyatt Lawrence gave a nice flick pass to Ryan Kruger who took a quick dibble and found the back of the net. Just 12 minutes later, Ryan poked the ball through on a nice breakaway on the left and beat the goalie only to hit the near post. That bounced out and hit the goalie in the back of the head on the return and bounced right into the goal before half."

"We came out in the second half only to play a lot better than the first half. Most of the half we peppered the goalie. but Olney was able to weather the storm. Finally Ryan was on another fastbreak, only to get pushed from behind as he began to shoot. Ryan was given a penalty kick and he connected on it late in the second half to finish the game.

"Alex Beesley played awesome, keeping the defense in line and stopping anything that came near him. Once again our defense continued their Iron Curtain play and allowed no goals and only one shot on goal all game."

The Bulldogs will play Saturday at 10 a.m. in Hillsboro. The Bulldogs stand at 5-0-1 and have only allowed one goal all season.

At Altamont

Altamont played a tale of two halves in recording a 3-1 victory over Newton Thursday.

"We came out early in the first half and played our pressing style of soccer," said Altamont Coach Jeff Walton. "We kept the ball forward and moved it well through the midfield and into our forwards. Fernando Romo stroke first and then Jesus Flores followed up. Flores' second goal for the night may have been the deciding factor.

"Leading 3-0 at the half, we slowed our play and stopped attacking. We are a very offensive-oriented team and we find ourselves in moments where we come at you quick and keep pressure up. Newton did not give up coming at us with the first 20 minutes of the second half and they found the net and never took the pressure off us and our backline.

"Late in the second half, Newton found the net for a second time, but it was called off by a late offsides call. We squeaked out a reobund win after facing Mattoon Tuesday. This was a good win for us to gain momentum to take into a tough homestand against AA Olney."

Altamont had 20 shots, seven on goal. Sam Childerson had 13 saves. Newton took 29 shots, 14 on goal and had four saves.