Elkhorn made six shootout attempts past Blair High School goalkeeper Luke Donner on Monday night at Krantz Field.
On the Antlers' eighth overall attempt, though, the freshman soccer player caught his opposition peeking ahead of the free shot on goal. Donner timed it right and dove.
“Right to me,” he said after a 7-6 shootout victory during the first round of the Eastern Midlands Conference Tournament. The fourth-seeded Bears (6-4 overall) lost their semifinals match the next evening at No. 1 Bennington, but, for the night, they celebrated a 1-1 match with Elkhorn.
“We lifted the Blair curse of losing in (penalty kick) shootouts,” BHS senior Quinn Baedke said. “There's not much of a better feeling to end the night with.”
Donner appeared at a disadvantage when Antlers keeper Jack Metschke stopped the Bears' first PK attempt after two scoreless overtime periods. Fortunately for coach Curt Scott's team, though, Elkhorn missed its third attempt high to keep the shootout going.
As his teammates rebounded with seven-straight makes, Donner dug in and, eventually, made the biggest save of his young career.
“You just, kind of, guess when you're back there,” he said. “And I knew one of those times I was going to guess right.”
The stop led to euphoria with Donner leaping into a mob of his teammates in celebration.
“I was just jumping around,” he recalled, shaking his head. “It was crazy.”
Monday's match reached overtime after both EMC teams scored one regulation goal apiece. Baedke scored Blair's during just the fifth-minute, booting a ball from outside of the box, through traffic and into the south goal at Krantz Field.
“Kicking a volley like that, you've just got to keep your foot on top of the ball because, if you don't, it's just going to go straight over (the goal),” he explained.
Baedke's didn't sail over its mark. It hit the back of the net.
“Got through everybody, including the keeper, and that's just what you love to see,” the BHS senior added.
Elkhorn finally tied the match 51 minutes later when Andrew Sutton netted the equalizer. Donner added a pair of saves during the 64th minute, however, keeping the match tied at 1-all before Alex Just headed a Sakuto Yamada cross in the 69th and just missed.
Neither team scored during the next 31 minutes of match time either. It all eventually led to the shootout with Baedke, Colton Matney, Crayton Macholan, Yamada, Isaac Field, Just and Victor Hernandez all making their attempts before Donner's game-winning save.
“You can't go up there with a foggy head,” Baedke said less than 24 hours before the Bears' second-round matchup with the third-ranked and top-seeded Badgers.
Blair trailed the EMC semifinal 4-0 at halftime Tuesday and surrendered three more goals during the second half. The loss was its most lopsided of the season, but just fourth overall.
The Bears next compete Monday against Norris. The home match starts at 7 p.m. on Krantz Field.
BHS SOCCER LINE SCORES
Tuesday
No. 3 Bennington 7, Blair 0
BHS (6-4) 0 0 — 0
BEN (13-0) 4 3 — 7
Monday
Blair 1(7), Elkhorn 1(6)
EHS (4-5) 0 1 0 0 (6) — 1
BHS (6-3) 1 0 0 0 (7) — 1
Goals: Blair: Quinn Baedke. Elkhorn: Andrew Sutton.
