Saints, N. Stars battle to scoreless draw

The looks of exhaustion and a missing sense of victory or defeat were etched on the players' faces Saturday night in St. Charles.

The boys soccer players from the two St. Charles high schools engaged in a spirited Upstate Eight Conference match at North, but 80 minutes failed to produce a decisive result for either squad.

There were chances aplenty, but either brilliant goalkeeping, lost chances and heads-up play failed to register a goal.

When the final horn sounded, St. Charles East and St. Charles North had played to a frenetic 0-0 draw.

St. Charles East is 8-8-3 overall, 2-4-2 in the league; the North Stars are 12-3-2, 4-1-1.

"We came here to win," said St. Charles East coach Jorge Ortiz. "We had our chances. We didn't put one in."

The spirited play that characterized the match reached its apex in the first half.

Both teams had opportunities to draw first blood, and St. Charles East goalkeeper Charlie Lyon was determined to make sure it was not the North Stars.

The sophomore had a trio of diving saves in the opening half, and Cameron Caruso was poised to give St. Charles East the early advantage at the other end.

But his header slid wide of the North Stars' right post, and the tit-for-tat nature of the contest continued, with the North Stars blistering a pair of salvos that sailed inches over the St. Charles East crossbar.

Then came the final minute of the first half.

St. Charles East had the North Stars pinned in their own end, and North keeper Zach Hosler became entangled some eight yards from the goal mouth.

It appeared that East junior Chris Wallace would undoubtedly break the scoreless first-half tie.

Wallace subsequently hit a low screamer that the prone Hosler had no chance of saving, only to see North Stars' Austin Andrekus save the day.

Andrekus made a hockey-like kick save with his left foot to preserve the draw as halftime loomed.

"It (the rebound) came right to my foot, and I just shot it," said Wallace.

"I just dropped behind the goalie and stuck my foot out," said Andrekus. "I tried taking off some of the angle."

"That was a great play by Austin," said North coach Eric Willson. "It was a fantastic stop."

Ortiz was equally complimentary of his keeper Lyon, who stopped 6 of the 13 shots he faced.

"He kept us in the game," said Ortiz. "That's the Charlie we know. That's the caliber of keeper we have here."