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Milton keeper makes big saves

MILTON — Look at the lonely keeper in soccer.

For minutes at a time, the ball can be 50 yards or more away from him guarding his goal, while nearly everyone else on the field are running and controlling the ball.

You might think the keeper could have today’s newspaper in his back pocket and a cup of coffee sitting by the goal post, waiting for his chance to make a save.

That’s not the case. Just ask Milton High School keeper Nick Hallett.

Hallett is part of the reason the Red Hawks are still playing while all but 15 other teams have packed away their gear. Milton opens its first WIAA state tournament appearance since 2002 with a Division 1 quarterfinal game against Green Bay Preble at 7 p.m. Thursday at Milwaukee’s Uihlein Soccer Park.

The 6-foot-1 senior is a two-year starter in net and has allowed an average of just 1.45 goals per game with seven shutouts this year. Milton (14-10) is 5-0 in its last five games, and Hallett has allowed just two goals in that span.

One of his biggest saves came in the final stages of the Red Hawks’ 2-0 victory over Lake Geneva Badger in the sectional championship game Saturday.

“Against Badger, he had a huge save in the 70th minute,” Milton coach Ryan Wagner said. “It basically ended the game for them, I feel. It took the air out of them.

“We were up, 2-0, and if they would have put that in…I mean, it was point-blank. If they put that in, it’s 2-1, with 10 minutes left. So that was huge.”

Hallett says on one-on-one shots like those, he uses tricks he has picked up in the seasons he has played goalie.

“You just read everything they do,” Hallett said. “You look at their eyes, where they face, their body action. Are they facing one way, ready to follow through to that side? Then you just lay your body out to that side and hope the ball goes into you.

“It’s a lot of knowledge and awareness of what’s going on.”

That helps great keepers make saves on their feet that appear easy to fans, but that other keepers might have had to dive for.

Hallett allowed just one goal in the Red Hawks’ biggest victory of the season, a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Kenosha Tremper in the sectional semifinal. Hallett battled through a sprained ankle suffered midway in the first half of that game.

“Lately he has just been awesome,” Wagner said.

Hallett spreads the praises to his teammates on the defensive end.

“We’re really pressuring the ball a lot,” Hallett said. “Every time (opponents) make a run down toward the goal, we’re in front of them. There are opportunities for them to score, but not as many as there used to be.”

Hallett spends much of his “down time” during games observing what opponents are doing and directing his backfield teammates—Austin Grandt on his left side, Adam Homan on his right, outside defender Justin Karleski and sweeper Nick Miller.

“During the game, the goalie is analyzing the field,” Hallett said. “You’re kind of like a quarterback, where you have to control your defense, telling them where to go. You have to make sure everyone on the defense has someone marked up (guarded).

“I have one advantage (other defensive players) don’t,” he said. “I can see the whole field.”

What Hallett and the rest of the Red Hawks have been seeing lately is nothing but good.