Shillington schools Trojans
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Coeur d'Alene High's Graison Le sprints to the ball as Drake Foster from Post Falls High crashes into him during the second half of the Viking's 1-0 win Tuesday over the Trojans.</p>
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Coeur d'Alene High's Dillon Dunteman flies in front of the goal as attempt to help out his goalie by breaking of a play in the second half by a trio of Post Falls High players.</p>
POST FALLS - After starting the school year on Tuesday, Coeur d'Alene High senior goalkeeper Keagan Shillington had his first 5A Inland Empire League boys soccer test later that afternoon.
He passed with flying colors.
Shillington had five saves on 13 shots on goal by Post Falls as the Vikings defeated the Trojans 1-0 in their league opener.
"He was lights out today for sure," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Lake said of Shillington. "I've never seen him play like he did today."
Post Falls had won six of its previous seven league matches, with one tie, and a win over Lewiston in its only other league game so far this season.
With Post Falls on the attack in the final five minutes, Shillington stopped a header by Timmy Mueller in the 75th minute, then turned away a breakaway by Brady Ulen to preserve the shutout.
"Shillington was on his game today," Post Falls coach Gabe Lawson said. "If not for him, it would have been a different scoreline. All the keepers showed up today, but he really kept them in the match today."
Coeur d'Alene (4-1, 1-0 5A IEL) travels to Lakeland on Thursday.
"Coach really stressed the importance of focus today," Shillington said. "We just came out here from the get-go and played hard. Anyone could have taken this game."
Defensively, the Vikings held Mueller scoreless on six shots on goal.
"It wasn't just the back line, it was all 11 guys," Lake said. "It was the back line led by Matt Hulquist and (Jake) Sweeney. Brennan Barber just stepped up and played lights out today. They had opportunities and they're a really good team - and there's no doubt they're going to be there at the end of the season, but we got fortunate today."
Coeur d’Alene scored midway into the first half as Devin Kohles put back a rebound in the 18th minute.
“We had a good counter attack coming in,” Lake said. “Graison (Le) put a good shot on goal and it rolled out to Devin. It was awesome to see Devin get that goal for us. He’s just Mr. Utility for us.”
Shillington sat out club season with the Coeur d’Alene Sting this summer.
“Too much soccer is repetitive,” Shillington said. “I wanted to take a break from it and come after it hard this season. It was definitely a relief to win today. Getting this one under our belt is a big confidence booster.”
Brady Hite had three saves for Post Falls (4-1, 1-1), which hosts Northwest Christian on Thursday.
“This was not an easy one to lose,” Lawson said. “I don’t think we took Coeur d’Alene serious enough today. I think we’ve gotten used to winning, and it’s good to get woken up a bit. The other teams are really good around here and we’re not going to get by playing half-hearted.”
Post Falls outshot Coeur d’Alene 13-5.
“We had every chance to score,” Lawson said. “Sometimes when you get scored on early and you’ve got that much time to make up, you’ve got to have that urgency to score. And we didn’t have that urgency. It was lackluster, sloppy and very disappointing.”
First half — 1, Cd’A, Devin Kohles (unassisted), 18:00. Second half — none.
Shots on goal — Cd’A 5; PF 13.
Saves — Cd’A, Keagan Shillington 5; PF, Brady Hite 3, Noah Gondo 0.