Aranda’s goalkeeping helps Elks reach first state tourney since 2011
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Elkhorn Area High School boys soccer coach BZ Kayser said goalkeeper Teyatzin Aranda, who didn’t face many shots this season, would someday need to earn his keep.
Aranda paid Kayser in full Saturday in a WIAA Division 2 sectional championship match against Oregon at Wilmot High School, and the Elks are headed to state after the Elks beat Oregon 4-3 in a sudden death shootout.
“He earned it,” Kayser said. “He’s the Man of the Match, by far. He saved our butts a couple of times that game.
“Everyone played great, but he was definitely the Man of the Match.”
The Elks (18-3-3) play the Tigers of New Richmond (19-4-1) at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Milwaukee’s Uihlein Soccer Park in a state semifinal match.
Ticket information is available at www.wiaawi.org, the home page of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Whitefish Bay and Waukesha West play at 7 p.m. Friday in the other Division 2 sectional. The winners play at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Division 2 title match.
Whitefish Bay (20-2-1) was ranked No. 1 in Division 2 in the most recent Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association state rankings. Waukesha West (14-5-2) was fifth. The Elks were ranked in the top five in the same poll late in the season.
New Richmond is 66 miles northwest of Eau Claire, 43 miles east of Minneapolis and four and a half hours from Elkhorn.
“They’re a very good team,” Kayser said. “They’re players all play in their clubs in the Twin Cities. These guys are good.”
Kayser said he was reaching out to any and all friends in the coaching community in an attempt to get a scouting report on the Tigers.
New Richmond is at state for the first time after beating Marshfield 4-1 in the Wausau East Sectional final. The Tigers won the title in the Middle Border Conference this season.
Oregon previously beat Elkhorn in the sectional final and advanced to state in 2014 and 2013.
This year, the two sides ended regulation tied 0-0 and played through two scoreless, 10-minute overtime periods before the match went to penalty kicks.
Sid Babu, Ian Nowell and Vince Umnus scored out of the Elks’ five shooters in the first round of penalty kicks. Three of Oregon’s first five shooters also scored, and the two teams advanced to sudden death penalty kicks.
Phillip Mearsman scored for the Elks. Aranda stopped the Beavers’ first shooter in sudden death overtime, and the Elks secured their first berth at state since 2011 in Division 1.
Kayser said the Elks missed on numerous opportunities to score in regulation.
“Their keeper didn’t really make great saves – we just missed on point-blank shots,” Kayser said. “We had a lot of great opportunities to score. The difference is we weren’t putting the ball on frame. Teyatzin had to come up big for us.”
Kayser said the Elks’ defense played well in front of Aranda. Elkhorn’s aggressive style of man-marking on defense worked against Oregon, as it does against most foes.
“We’ve been leaning on our offense and our forwards, and they’ve been carrying us,” Kayser said. “We really needed our midfielders and defenders to come through, and they obviously came up huge, too.”
