2014 Nebraska high school soccer state tournament roundup

A year ago, Omaha Skutt came oh so close to nailing down a sweep of the Class B soccer titles, but came up just short after securing the girls championship and finishing as runner-up to South Sioux City in the boys contest.

In 2014, Gretna High was in position to take it one step farther than Skutt following the Dragons' third girls championship, a 2-1 overtime win over Elkhorn South Monday. However, the Scotus (Columbus) boys had other ideas, battling coach David Fisch's Dragon squad to a scoreless tie after regulation.

Good fortune was with the Shamrocks about four minutes into the first overtime when Gretna's Brad Stukenholtz tried to slide in and clear a ball about three yards out in front of the goal. Stukenholtz arrived to the ball late, and wasn't able to get around on it, tapping the ball into the back of the net.

"It's hard to find words when you lose like that," Fisch said Wednesday by phone. "When you play soccer you have good fortune and some times you have misfortune.

"There was the expected disappointment and sadness that you'd expect from a loss like that. But once we sat down and started to enjoy some food, they were back to joking around."

Fisch referred to Gretna's latest soccer go-round as a season of inches, pointing out that the Dragons (16-6) lost six games by five goals. All six losses, he said, were decided late in each contest – with one being a shootout loss.

As for competing against programs like Scotus, Fisch said he would like to play the Shamrocks two, maybe three more times.

"I'd say it was a pretty even match," Fisch said. "I believe the stats pointed that out. They were pretty even as were the possessions. I'd like to play them two or three more times. If we played each other five times, I think it'd go 3-2 with a different outcome each time."

Although the Gretna girls' medals were a different color than the boys, Fisch didn't think the champs would showboat his squad.

"It's been great," Fisch said of Gretna's stellar soccer success. "I've been here four years, and each year the boys and girls have made it to state. We have made four finals between the two programs, with two titles. Both programs are strong. We aren't the biggest school, but we have a lot of talent here."

Gretna Girls 2, Elkhorn South 1 (OT)

Gretna secured the Class B state title by scoring from afar in an overtime triumph over Elkhorn South. Going into the contest, the Dragons knew opportunities would be limited as they were facing a South defense that had posted shutouts in 11 straight contests.

But Sarah Zeleny scored her first goal of the 2014 season from about 40 yards out to tie the game with 44 seconds left in regulation.

Senior Makenzie Burmeister then did the Storm in when she drove the ball into the back of the net from 30 yards away nearly four minutes into the extra frame, giving her a tournament-leading five goals for the three-day event held at Creighton University's Morrison Stadium.

"I was standing over there and I jumped out of my shorts," Gretna coach George Behney told the Lincoln Journal Star of Zeleny's game-tying goal following Monday's title bout.

"She wouldn't hit many of those if given the opportunity, but it only takes one opportunity. It was fantastic."

Jessica Dvorak took a pass from Arianna Veland and scored with about five minutes remaining in the second half to put the Storm up 1-0.

In 2011, the Gretna boys won the Class B title, while the girls had to settle for silver. The Dragons also won a title in 2002, while the girls won championships in 2003 and 2012, and finished as runners-up in 2002 and 2010.

Lincoln Southwest 1, Omaha Westside 0

Thanks in large part to the teamwork of brothers Justin Wiley and AJ Wiley, first-year head coach Geoff Weller was able to guide Lincoln Southwest to the school's first boys or girls state soccer championship Tuesday.

AJ found his older brother open in front of the net in the game's 16th minute and pitched the ball to him. Justin did the rest, settling the ball from about 10 yards out and putting it in. The Silver Hawk defense held for the narrow win.

"That's something they can hang their hat on," Weller said of the history-making win by phone Wednesday. "They will go down in history as the team to win Lincoln Southwest's first championship. No one can take that away from them."

The Silver Hawk coaching staff, as well as the 10 seniors on the Southwest roster, made it a point in 2014 to take a team-first mentality each time they took to the field.

"Our emphasis this year was on the team," Weller said. "You hear the clichés all of the time in sports. But this group really did live that out.

"They knew what to expect. They lost in the first round of districts last year and they really wanted to get back here. They won the championship two years ago as sophomores, and they wanted one of their own. They wanted to go out with a bang."

Marian (Omaha) Girls 1, Millard North (Omaha) 0

As she was training with the U-18 national team last weekend, Omaha Marian midfielder Maddie Elliston struggled to keep her mind in sunny California.

While Elliston was working out and competing in exhibition matches with her Team USA teammates, the Crusaders were keeping their competition in a hole at the Nebraska Class A State Soccer Tournament.

Elliston's Crusader teammates stretched tournament play by knocking off Lincoln Southeast 6-1 in the quarterfinals and upending Millard West 1-0 in a semifinal shootout to allow the Penn State recruit to close out her prep career in a Crusader uniform.

Junior forward Faith Carter took it one step farther, and allowed Elliston and the other Crusader seniors to go out as champions by scoring the lone goal in Marian's win in the championship match. The Crusaders hoisted the championship hardware for the third time in five years.

"It's awesome for the girls," Crusaders first-year coach Amy Price told the Omaha World Herald following Monday's championship win. "They've worked so hard this year to get to this point, and they finished it off.

"Maddie was glad to be back. She was ready to play with her teammates."

Carter fended off a North defender for position and her toe did the rest, early in the second half, as freshman Rachel Johnson rifled her a pass.

"I just stuck my foot out," Carter told the World Herald. "Any contact to the ball I knew it might go in. I saw a great pass from my teammate. It had to be done."

The win allowed Marian to stretch its state-leading championship wins to 12. Millard North is next in line with six titles.

Double Berths

Gretna wasn't the only school vying for the sweep of the boys and girls state titles in Nebraska's two largest classifications. But the Dragons were the only program to place two squads in the finals.

In Class A, Omaha Westside, Lincoln Southwest, Millard West and Lincoln East were represented on both brackets. Other Class B schools that qualified both the boys and girls squads were: Hastings, Columbus Scotus, Omaha Skutt, Elkhorn South and Lincoln Pius X.

Defending Champs Fall Early

Each of the four defending champions made their respective classifications' field of eight. But each exited before making the finals. Millard West lost to eventual Class A girls champion Omaha Marian 1-0 in a shootout in a semifinal match.

Omaha South came up short in the Class A boys tournament, falling to rival Omaha Creighton Prep 3-2 in the quarterfinals, while in Class B the Omaha Skutt girls lost 2-1 in a shootout to Hastings in the quarterfinals.

Defending Class B champion South Sioux City moved up and into the Class A boys field this season, but lost to eventual big school champion Lincoln Southwest 2-0 in the semifinals.

Leading State Tournament Goal Scorers - Boys

Justin Wiley, Lincoln Southwest – 3
AJ Wiley, Lincoln Southwest – 3
James Narke, Omaha Creighton Prep – 2
Ryan Fuchs, Columbus Scotus – 2
Ian Ostdiek, Columbus Scotus – 2
Trent Boyer, Gretna – 2
Robert Wiseman, Omaha Westside – 2
Nick Hinds, Lincoln Pius X – 2

Leading State Tournament Goal Scorers – Girls

Makenzie Burmeister, Gretna – 5
Arianna Veland, Elkhorn South – 2
Nicole Beer, Elkhorn South – 2
Emily Arrigo, Lincoln Pius X – 2

For more information on the Nebraska soccer postseason, check out these links:
* MaxPreps brackets - Girls and Boys
* MaxPreps soccer computer rankings for Nebraska - Girls and Boys