Team runs into buzz saw Whitefish Bay in championship game
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The identity of the best boys soccer team in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Division 2 is not open to debate, and it is a stretch to consider if the opposite were ever true.
The Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes beat the Elkhorn Area High School Elks 4-0 Saturday at Milwaukee’s Uihlein Soccer Park and won the WIAA Division 2 state title.
The Elks finished the season with an overall record of 20-4-3.
Before the match Erich Schaser, a WELS Reverend and the boys soccer coach at Appleton’s Fox Valley Lutheran, said he thought Elkhorn would win because they were the stronger team. Schaser was part of Fox Sports Wisconsin’s television coverage team for the tournament.
In the minutes following the final whistle, Elks coach BZ Kayser offered a different take, and said the Elks ran into a buzz saw.
The Blue Dukes (23-2-1) entered the match as the state’s No.1-ranked team in Division 2 in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association, and also as the defending Division 2 champion.
At points this season Whitefish Bay was ranked nationally in The USA TODAY High School Sports/National Soccer Coaches Association of America Super 25 Expert Rankings.
Whitefish Bay played Division 1 champion Milwaukee Marquette to a draw in the regular season, and suffered one of its two losses to Division 1 runner-up Brookfield Central.
Whitefish Bay looked every bit like a squad intent on proving its worth. The Blue Dukes out-possessed the Elks, and seemed to play keep away more than they did soccer.
Whitefish Bay’s quick, almost frantic style of play took the Elks out of system and prohibited any cohesive, unified effort on offense.
Elkhorn looked tentative and uncertain all evening, and struggled to move play through the midfield and transition from defense to offense.
Elkhorn finished with two official shots on goal to Whitefish Bay’s 16. Where the Elks deserves credit is in keeping the score as close as they did.
“I just told them I was proud of them,” said Elks coach BZ Kayser about his postgame comments to the team. “They worked hard and they didn’t give up. I didn’t see a lot of heads hanging.”
Elkhorn knocks off New Richmond
Whitefish Bay beat Waukesha West 2-1 Friday in the state semifinals. Elkhorn beat New Richmond 2-1 in the state semifinals.
New Richmond (19-6-1) scored the first of the goal match with 10:23 elapsed in the first half. Sean Flandrick put home a cross through the 18-yard box off an assist from Zach Landt.
Senior forward Sid Babu and the Elks answered a little more than 30 seconds later and tied the match 1-1. Babu scored an unassisted goal to the far post from the corner of the 18-yard box.
Babu scored the game-winning goal with 20 minutes left in regulation off an assist from Bryan Romero.
“I thought they were decent, but I thought we played better teams,” Babu said of New Richmond. “We just wouldn’t give up and quit. We wanted this from the beginning of the season. We just wanted it more.”
The Elks lost a state title, but it must be remembered they played for a state title. Elkhorn is one of two teams in Division 2 to win games at Uihlein Soccer Park in the state tournament. The Division 2 field is 64 teams deep, and four go to state, which means 59 teams would gladly have traded places with the Elks.
“When you lose, you always feel bad, and then when you go home with a big trophy that’s going to be in your trophy case, it helps you put everything in perspective,” Kayser said. “This doesn’t happen to a lot of people, this experience we had.”
The Elks lose three seniors – Babu, Phillip Meersman and Ian Nowell – that started and played significant minutes, but the rest of the squad returns.
Kayser said Elkhorn will be among the stronger teams in its sectional, and said a return trip to state is not out of the question. Not to be overlooked is the role the Elkhorn Soccer Club plays in developing talent in the community that can compete for a state title.
“Our club has come a long way, and the kids are buying into it,” Kayser said. “People can disagree, but we’re starting to become a soccer community.”
