Boys soccer: Noah Russow’s hat trick helps lead Streator to 4-2 win over Ottawa

OTTAWA – As the crowd at King Field settled back into their seats for the beginning of the second half of Tuesday’s match between Streator and Ottawa, the Bulldogs’ Landon Muntz and Noah Russow quickly combined to have the visiting fans back on their feet.

Russow took a long lead pass from Muntz and scored the second of his three goals in the match 16 seconds into the final half to break a 1-all tie in Streator’s 4-2 victory under the lights on Ottawa’s senior night.

“This was a great battle under the lights, just a really fun match to play in, and a good boost for us heading into the postseason.”

—  J.T. Huey, Streator boys soccer coach

“It’s a rivalry match, it’s going to always be a battle, and each side wants to win this as much as the other side does,” Russow said. “It’s almost the end of the season, and everyone really just wanted to get this one for the seniors. Just wanted to give them a good memory of their last Ottawa-Streator soccer match.

“I just ran straight down the field and then cut diagonally toward the net. I saw Landon eyeing me up, so I just wanted to find some open space. He put a beautiful pass that came to me in stride, and I was able to trap it and put the shot on net.

“We played like we should play all the time in the second half.”

Ottawa took a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when Evan Snook headed in a pass from Michael Bedolla past Streator keeper Noah Camp (seven saves). About five minutes before halftime, a give-and-go between Russow and Muntz ended in Russow’s 18-yard shot finding its way past Ottawa keeper Brady Wendt (four saves).

Then after Russow’s aforementioned tally to start the second half, he scored five minutes later from close in off a throw-in from David Paton that found its way through traffic on the weak side.

“That really set the tone for the second half,” Streator coach J.T. Huey said. “I felt like we controlled the pace from there other than an eight-minute stretch where Ottawa just kept knocking on the door and we couldn’t clear the ball. Ottawa has a good program, and they showed that by not backing down even when we went up 3-1. They just kept coming after us.

“We played a much smarter match in the second half. This was a great battle under the lights, just a really fun match to play in, and a good boost for us heading into the postseason.”

The Pirates (11-9-2) closed to within one on a penalty kick by Snook in the 50th minute, and minutes later nearly tied the game when a header from in close by Yousef Alzamzami deflected off the crossbar.

Streator (7-10-1) closed out the scoring when Connor Decker picked up an errant clearing attempt and scored with just over a minute to play.

The Bulldogs held a 16-14 advantage in overall shots, while Ottawa led 10-9 in shots on target.

“[Streator] was in the right spot at the right time and aggressive throughout, especially in the second half when they pressed us right from the start,” Ottawa coach Kevin Olesen said. “We just didn’t respond as quickly to that first goal of the second half like I would have liked to see.

“Overall, I thought we played a quality match all the way through. We were able to make it a one-goal game with 30 minutes to go and had a handful of good chances to tie it up, but just couldn’t capitalize. These guys have fought hard all season and I saw more of that tonight. We came out of tonight pretty healthy going into regionals and that’s a very good thing.”

Streator is back in action Thursday hosting La Salle-Peru, then opens Class 2A postseason play at home against Dixon at 5 p.m. Friday. Ottawa is off until Oct. 18 when it starts 2A regional play against Geneseo at 5 p.m. in Galesburg.