By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School soccer team closed out its Southern Lakes Conference regular season with a flourish and secured its seed in the SLC Tournament.
The Elks defeated Burlington 3-1 Sept. 23 at Burlington and Waterford 2-0 Sept. 25 at Waterford. The Elks completed their SLC season with a 5-2 record and finished third in the regular season standings.
Against Burlington (0-9-1, 0-6-1 SLC) the Elks led 2-0 at halftime on the strength of goals from Aaron Wales and Chandler Kayser. Matt Nelson scored in the second half.
Coach BZ Kayser said the Elks controlled possession 70 percent to the Demons’ 30 percent, and said the opportunity existed to score more goals.
“We just don’t have the guy that can finish,” BZ Kayser said. “We created opportunities, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”
BZ Kayser said Burlington played physical against the Elks, and said one of the Demons’ players earned an ejection late in the second half after being assessed a red card.
Elkhorn led 1-0 at halftime against Waterford (2-12-2, 1-5-1 SLC). Chandler Kayser scored in the first half for the Elks (9-3-2, 5-2 SLC). Midfielder Danny Nunn scored in the second half for the Elks.
“He doesn’t play a lot, but that’s the best game he’s played all year,” BZ Kayser said. “He had some lively legs. He gave us a little spark in the second half.”
BZ Kayser said the Elks also lacked the finishing touch against the Wolverines.
“We had opportunities in that game, too,” BZ Kayser said. “We could have scored seven goals in that game. We’ve always won the games we should win. It’s a game we should have won a lot more comfortably than we did.”
The Elks played Badger (13-5-1, 6-1 SLC) Tuesday at Lake Geneva in the opening round of the SLC Tournament. Elkhorn is seeded third and Badger is second. Badger defeated the Elks in the regular season 2-1 Sept. 16 at Elkhorn.
The winner of Tuesday’s match plays No. 1 seed Delavan-Darien Oct. 7 at Delavan for the SLC title.
Delavan-Darien (15-1-2) finished the SLC regular season undefeated at 7-0 and is ranked third in the state in Division 3 in the latest Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association state poll.
Elkhorn has won at least a share of the SLC title in each of the last three seasons.
