Regina’s Josh Dutchik sends Regals into state soccer finals

DES MOINES - Josh Dutchik was nervous.

The Iowa City Regina freshman keeper had kept top-seeded Dyersville Beckman (18-2) out of the net for two full halves and another 20 minutes during the overtime of the Class 1A boys' state soccer tournament semifinal at Cownie Stadium.

This, however, was a new challenge. Penalty kicks. A shootout. It was something he'd struggled with this season, as recently as two weeks ago, according to Regina head coach Rick Larew.

Each practice, Larew has his team take penalty kicks for 10 minutes. So, during one of those sessions, a little advice was dropped on Dutchik.

'He was trying to read minds and all this stuff,” Larew said. 'The hips don't lie. Follow the hips. The ball has to go where the hips tell it.”

As Blazer senior Riley LeGrand sent a shot flying toward Dutchik, the Regals keeper was able to follow that advice. Nathan Green and Mason Welter were able to send the final two kicks of the shootout past Dyersville Beckman keeper Ty Pottebaum and Regina (15-5) is headed to the state championship on the back of a 1-0 (5-3) win.

The game was a rematch of last year's semifinal, a game the Blazers won 2-0.

'This year was payback and it was good to get the win,” Welter said. 'It definitely feels great.”

A strong defensive effort, keyed by Dutchik and the rest of the Regals defense, helped offset the lack of shots.

With 8:30 left in the game, Dutchik made one of the best saves of the tournament. He stretched out as the ball hurdled to the left side of the net, which he knocked out.

Dutchik was busy during the entire game - Dyersville Beckman had 16 shots - with the keeper registering saves on seven of those. He was absolutely brilliant throughout the game, knocking just about everything away.

'I felt like I played pretty good,” Dutchik said. 'In a couple hours I'm going to forget about it and move on to the next one.”

The Blazers switch keepers, with the work split between Pottebaum, who started the game, and Sam Stelken, who played the second half and both of the overtimes. Both turned in solid performances, though they didn't have quite as much to do.

Regina had just four shots on goal - six total - though that's a credit to the Dyersville Beckman back line as much as anything. Regina stars Nick Pechous (20 goals) and Kieler Brown (13) were shut down for long portions and it was a struggle for them to get much offense going.

As it turned out, they did just enough.

'This is a team that's had our number of the last couple years,” Larew said. 'They've got a tough style that's hard to match up with. For us, it's just nice. Today we played like we should sometimes and there were other moments where we didn't.

'I'm happy with how the kids played today.”

The fourth-seeded Regals will take on No. 2 Gilbert in the championship game Saturday at noon.

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com