St. A Takes Soccer Win, Altamont Plays to Tie

HILLSBORO -- Effingham St. Anthony traveled to Hillsboro Saturday for a soccer match and claimed a 3-0 victory.

"We played the Hiltoppers for the first time because we added them to the schedule," said St. Anthony Coach Eric Morales. "We are scheduled to kickoff at 10 a.m. and the departure time is even earlier. Temperatures and breeze were perfect, as well as the team.  We came to Hillsboro to leave with top performance, and nothing less. It took the seventh game to perfect our game and we had possession of the game 90% of the time

"We played our first perfect game and I couldn't be any happier. It has all finally come together and we keep getting stronger and stronger as we play.  Much of the first half was give and go over and over between Ryan, Moises, Deters and Wyatt. Finally, half way through the first half, on a break-through to the goal from Ryan Kruger, he was tripped from behind and was given a penalty kick. Ryan connected putting us up 1-0 before the half.

"The second half started and we wasted no time and right away took control of the game. About 13 minutes in, Moises found himself on a breakaway down the right side of the field and took a shot on an open goal, the ball hits the inside of the pole bounces and hits the keeper on his back and bounces back into the goal. The goalie still tried to save it, only to push the ball more into the goal

"Then with 12 minutes left in the game, Ryan picked the ball up just shy of the midfield and dribbled it all the way to goal beating the keeper and we won 3-0. We allowed the Hiltoppers just three shots on goal all game. We came and played the perfect game, from dribbling, to passing to just playing like a team."

St. Anthony improves to 6-0-1.

"We're still staying strong only allowing one goal so far all season. Our defense continues to hold a strong front and not allow anyone to come anywhere near the goal."

St. Anthony travels to Carlyle Tuesday for its next match.

At Altamont

Olney came calling and played Altamont to a 1-1 tie in action Saturday.

"We let one slip by today on a beautiful day to play," said Altamont Coach Jeff Walton. "Olney jumped ou early and score inthe first four minutes of play. We struggled the rest of the half to gain compsure and settle into our style of play. We outshot Olney 9-5 at half.

"After a couple of calls that didn't go our way, we finally gained steam and played to the level we should. We kept the ball on Olney half and outshot them 15-4. Which also led to our only goal by Jacob Crow.

"After the match I told the team I was disappointed in our level of play today. We were the better team and let one get away from us. If we would have played with the fire and intensity we had in the final 15 minutes of the match, we would have walked out with our sixth win. Also not a good match fo us coming into a tough stetch with Teutopoils, Trenton Wesclin and Breese Mater Dei. All of the three will keep us scrapping to find the net and finish in front. However, we did show a lot of character fighting from behind and settling with a tie. This is the first time we had to fight from behind and concede with a tie. The only other time we have been behind was against Mattoon, a tough AA school that pushed us to play perfect and be on with every ball played. Great experience and helps us build for postseason play."

Altamont had 24 shots, six on goal. Sam Childereson had five saves. Olney had nine shots, six on goal and five saves.

In junior varsity play, Olney was a 3-2 winner. Altamont drops to 1-1.