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Mesa High soccer on brink of special season

BY ZACH ALVIRA

Tribune Sports Editor

TJ Hagen had spent the off season attempting to coax some of his former soccer players to return to the pitch for Mesa this season.

Most of the time, he admits, he did it in a joking manner. The players in question — Easton Elzinga, Gabe Gutierrez and Abdiel Beltran — had spent their junior season splaying for MLS Select, a premier soccer club that provides a pathway for high school athletes to the college ranks and beyond. Most of the time, however, they aren’t able to play in their respective high school seasons.

Nonetheless, Hagen kept an open line of communication for their return. It paid off.

Just before tryouts, Elzinga visited Hagen in his social studies classroom at Mesa. The senior had a smile on his face. Hagen knew what it meant.

“I look at him and I go, ‘tell me I’ve got good news,’” Hagen said. “He told me, ‘I think we’re pretty locked in.’ That’s where we figured out we might have something special.”

Elzinga informed him that not only would he be playing for Mesa in the winter, but Gutierrez and Beltran were going to join him. Hagen had arguably his two top defenders back, both of which have been involved with the program since their freshman seasons. Beltran reclaimed his middle forward position and now leads the team with 11 goals.

“Telling him we were playing, it was exciting,” Elzinga said. “I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I want to serve a mission for two years after high school. So, knowing I wasn’t going to go to college for two years, I thought to myself, ‘I appreciate everything MLS has done for me but with COVID and everything, I wanted to go play high school, have fun and get the boys back together.” Hagen had his roster solidified with a healthy mix of old and new players. They gelled quickly and have since emerged as one of the top programs in the 6A Conference with an overall record of 13-1. Mesa’s lone loss this season came against a San Luis team that lost in the 6A final last year to Brophy. The Jackrabbits played the Sidewinder close last Monday but fell 4-1 with most of their opponent’s goals coming in the second half.

While it put a blemish in their perfect record up to that point, the team is using it as a motivational factor rather than hanging their heads. Elzinga said it was the perfect opportunity for the team to hit reset after a successful first half of the season.

“I think the loss was needed,” Elzinga said. “Now we understand who we are and who we need to become. We understand there’s a lot we need to fix. We’ve played

Mesa senior Easton Elzinga, who played club soccer his junior year, returned to the team this season along with Gabe Gutierrez and Abdiel Beltran and have helped lead the Jackrabbits to success this season.(Dave Minton/Tribune Staff) some great teams, but we haven’t been challenged defensively as much as we were that night. “As a team, we are humbled. We have work to do.” Mesa’s 13-game win streak to start the season was special Mesa coach TJ Hagen, who has led the Jackrabbits for 26 years, recently achieved his 300th win in the midst of his team’s best start in program history. (Dave Minton/ Tribune Staff) in a variety of ways. Not only was it the best start in program history, but it came with a milestone for Hagen as head coach. The Jackrabbits’ 1-0 win over Cesar Chavez on Wednesday, Jan. 5 notched his 300th victory as head coach at the school – where he has been for 26 years. And it came during a season in which his son, Jordan, is a junior goalkeeper for the team. Hagen downplayed the milestone. He called it a nice accomplishment but remains focused on the task at hand – winning a state title. Jordan, however, said it was a special moment to share with his dad. Especially as it came at the same time he recorded his eighth shutout of the season while in goal. “It’s amazing. Ever since I was a kid going to practices, I always wanted to go to Mesa and help him succeed as a coach,” Jordan said. “Hopefully, I can go get a gold ball with him.” Mesa faced Boulder Creek Thursday and will have matches against Copper Canyon and Tolleson before entering region play. As of now, the Jackrabbits are favored to win the East Valley Region, but they aren’t banking on their success from the first half of the season to get them there. Each player knows they will have to continue taking each match one at a time to accomplish their ultimate goal of bringing a state title back to Mesa. As one of the captains, Gutierrez is hoping he can help keep them on a path toward success. “We have to take things one game at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” Gutierrez said. “We all have the same goal. We just have to keep working hard to get there.” ■

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Contact Zach Alvira at zalvira@timespublications.com and follow him on Twitter@ZachAlvira.