Shutout streak reaches four

By Chris Bennett

Correspondent

The Elkhorn Area High School girls soccer team extended its shutout streak to four matches last week with two clean sheets in Southern Lakes Conference play.

Elkhorn beat Wilmot 4-0 May 19 at Wilmot and Westosha Central 4-0 May 17 at Paddock Lake.

The Elks played Union Grove Tuesday at home in the semifinals of the SLC Tournament. Elkhorn plays either Burlington or Waterford today at the pitch of the higher seed for first or third place in the SLC.

Coach BZ Kayser said the Elks (15-0-3, 6-0-1 SLC) “completely dominated” Wilmot (3-8-2, 1-5-1 SLC), and said he thought the Panthers finished without a shot on goal.

“We only put four away, but should have had a lot more than we did,” Kayser said. “(Wilmot) really struggled. We really controlled that one.”

Megan Skoczylas scored three goals and Olivia May one for Elkhorn against the Panthers. Skoczylas did not play against Central (5-8-3, 2-5 SLC) due to an illness.

“We played pretty well,” Kayser said. “They had a really organized back four. I think we still played pretty decent and got a lot of opportunities.”

The back four, in soccer parlance, is the defense. Kayser said it took the Elks time to get their legs under them without Skoczylas, their senior captain and previous SLC Player of the Year.

“The girls really look to her,” Kayser said. “We learned a few things. We put some girls in some different spots. It was good to try people in different positions.”

May scored three goals and Leesa Sesing one for the Elks against the Falcons.

The Elks are seeded second in the SLC Tournament. Burlington, the defending champion, is seeded No. 1. Union Grove is third and Waterford is fourth.

Kayser said Burlington earned the No. 1 seed based on first-half goals allowed in SLC matches. The Demons allowed one goal in the first half of SLC matches this season, and the Elks allowed three.

The Demons and Elks played to a 2-2 draw May 3 at Burlington, which also marks the last match the Elks did not win. Elkhorn is unbeaten in 18 matches this season.

The Elks beat the Broncos 3-1 May 5 in a SLC match at home. Kayser said the Elks did not play very well against Union Grove (13-3-3, 5-2 SLC), and were fortunate to win the match.

Burlington (10-2-2, 6-0-1 SLC) and Waterford (9-8-2, 4-3 SLC) played Tuesday at Burlington. The winners play today at the pitch of the higher seed for the SLC title. The losers of Tuesday’s matches play today at the pitch of the higher seed for third place.

The Elks close the regular season with a non-conference match Saturday at East Troy.

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