Published Sunday

April 14, 2002

Spartans boys, Burke girls claim soccer titles

BY CHAD PURCELL

WORLD-HERALD CORRESPONDENT

In his seven years at Lincoln East, Spartans Coach Jeff Hoham said he never saw a keeper go unbeaten in an overtime shootout.

That changed Saturday when junior Joel Bergt got his hands on all three Omaha Skutt kicks to lead Top 10 No. 1 Lincoln East to a 4-1 shootout victory in the Papillion-LaVista Invitational boys soccer championship match.

Girls Top 10 No. 4 Omaha Burke defeated Columbus Scotus 2-0 Saturday to win the Papillion-LaVista girls title.

The Lincoln East boys improved to 9-0 at the two-day tournament, beating Columbus Scotus 4-0 Friday and Top 10 No. 2 Millard South 3-1 in Saturday's semifinals. That set up the shootout with Skutt, and Bergt said he never doubted he'd get the job done.

"Every player has tendencies, and you just have to know them," said Bergt, who has six shutouts this season. "Once it got to the shootout, I knew we would win."

Skutt, rated No. 2 in Class B, beat Top 10 No. 6 Millard North 1-0 Friday and advanced to the championship with a 6-5 shootout win over Top 10 No. 7 Omaha Creighton Prep.

The Burke girls team, which lost its first match of the season Thursday in a 1-0 setback against Class A No. 10 Millard West, improved to 10-1 with three tournament victories. Burke beat Bellevue East 9-0 Friday and Top 10 No. 5 Millard North 3-1 Saturday before meeting Scotus in the finals.

"Just to play those three teams in such a short stretch would have been enough," said Burke Coach Steve Moore. "But to actually beat all those teams is just a great experience for our team."

Scotus, ranked No. 3 in the girls Class B poll, beat Papillion-LaVista 3-0 Friday before shutting out Class A No. 9 Bellevue West 2-0 in Saturday's semifinals.