Oliver scores three as Gators blank Dundee-Crown

By David Kuechle
Photos courtesy of Keith Allmandinger

Charlie Oliver scored three goals to lead Crystal Lake South to a 3-0 Fox Valley Conference win over Dundee-Crown on Tuesday in Crystal Lake.

The victory brings the Gators' record to 7-1-1 and it continued the offensive explosion that the team has been on of late.

Crystal Lake South has posted six straight shutouts and outscored its opponents by a 19-0 margin during that stretch.

The Gators' determination was visible from the start and the defensive turnarounds they had led to frequent breakaways and scoring chances.

Chargers goaltender Scott Nowicke was solid but the pressure from CLS was too much.

"I was really pleased with the effort they put in from the get-go," coach Brian Allen said of the Gators.

The effort, exemplified no greater in the match than by Oliver, ultimately led to CLS gaining offensive rushes and opportunities, and eventually the win.

Beside scoring all three goals in the game, forward Oliver had many more chances.

"That's Charlie being Charlie," Allen said.

Oliver, however, attributed his goals to the play making skills of his teammates.

"It's everyone, starting from the back, the connection into the middle, coming up to the forwards," Oliver said.

"It was just all good and gave me opportunities to score".

Following what appeared to be an injury after being hit in the face by a Charger midfielder, Oliver scored perhaps his finest goal of the evening.

He brought the ball up the field on a breakaway that Nowicke didn't have a chance at stopping.

The defense is improving, specifically with their communication skills with each other, and also in terms of limiting their opponents' scoring chances.

"We gave up opportunities, but we didn't give up any quality chances," Gators defender Matt Biederwolf commented.

"We are confident in our keeper that he's not going to let them in."

Not letting them in is exactly what goaltender Dave Walsh has been doing.

He sees areas where the defense is improving but also realizes that there's still work to be done.

"The defense still needs to pick it up a little bit", said the Gators' keeper.

"There weren't that many shots on goal." he continued, indicating the solid play the defense is doing of breaking up scoring chances.

Midfielder Sam Murdock also saw adjustments that need to be made for the next game.

"Definitely our spacing and talking to each other," said Murdock.

Communication was frequent between players, which CLS has been consistently building on in every match, but there's more potential.

The spacing issues made it difficult for plays to be broken up early, leaving that job to the defense.

Still, subtle improvements such as those can significantly help this team.

Allen seems to be doing a very good job on developing his players, and it's noticeable with each passing game.

The Chargers were tightly limited in their scoring chances, and really only had one major opportunity, which came with 26:16 left in the first half.

Walsh was forced to make a save from about 10 feet out on a very hard shot, which led to a rush the other way.

Timely plays such as these are keys to the Gators' success thus far in the season.

The Gators also play at home in their next match, which will be Thursday afternoon against Woodstock.