Keeper Carter Nicholson, Coal City blank Streator 4-0 in ICE boys soccer

STREATOR – With 17 minutes remaining in a scoreless opening half of Tuesday’s Illinois Central Eight Conference match between Coal City and Streator at the James Street Recreation Center, Coalers goalkeeper Carter Nicholson made a tremendous save on a point-blank shot.

Minutes later, Nicholson stopped a Bulldogs’ shot that looked ticketed for the back of the net before also scrambling to stop the rebound chance.

Coal City then scored three times over the next 10 minutes and eventually closed out a 4-0 victory to improve to 14-6-1 overall and finish the ICE schedule 4-2.

“I felt like we passed the ball well, did a good job of possessing the ball and stringing passes together,” said Nicholson, who made eight saves and a handful of quality clears while lowering his season goals-against average to 1.26. “It felt like we were really clicking all match long, and my defenders in front of me did a good job giving me lanes and keeping [Streator’s] really good chances to a minimum.

“I always want to have good footwork and have good reaction speed. I also want to be aggressive. As a keeper, if you can get the ball you have to go get it. I felt like I did a pretty good job with all of that today.”

Streator coach J.T. Huey said he felt the back-to-back saves by Nicholson changed the momentum in the match.

“Despite not playing very well, we had a number of chances to not only get on top early, but then also to close the gap when Coal City took the lead. But every time we had those chances [Nicholson] was there,” Huey said. “He was phenomenal. He knows how to cut down angles, he’s aggressive to the ball and he has a commanding presence about him. You’re not getting any shot past his from 30 yards and out. ... He’s always ready. It was going to take a special shot to get one past him today.

“We didn’t play our game, and we didn’t play our best, but today reminded me of three years ago. We kind of laid an egg against these guys in Coal City, then came back to win our last two regular-season games against Ottawa and Morris, and then went on to win a regional championship. We’ll see what this group can do.”

Coal City opened the scoring with 12:26 left in the first half when freshman Carter Hollis scored on a 10-yard shot off a scramble from right out front.

The Coalers made it a two-goal lead 126 seconds later when Parker Jacovec headed in a corner kick from Dane Noffsinger on the weak side. The visitors made it 3-0 late in the half on a Noffsinger shot that deflected off a Streator defender and snuck by keeper Andrew Vogel (five saves).

Coal City closed out the scoring midway into the second half when Hollis headed in a crossing pass from Evan Greggain.

Streator (8-12-2 and 2-4) had three good looks throughout the match, two by Carlos Cueto and another by David Paton, but each time Nicholson had the answer.

“We played well for sure. ... I thought it took us a little while, but we adjusted to the conditions really well,” Coal City coach Steven McCleary said. “It’s been very dry around the area, so the field is hard, and a soccer ball can do some crazy things when a field is hard. We were finally able to get those three [goals] there back-to-back-back quickly in the first half and then played a pretty solid second half to close things out. Carter [Nicholson] was also sensational for us.

“As a coach you take goals any way they come, but today we were not only able to score in many different ways, but they all had a little flash to them.”

Coal City plays Wednesday at Sandwich, while Streator is off until Tuesday when it hosts rival Ottawa.