2017 Section 6AA Soccer Tournament Preview

The road to the state tournament gets underway Thursday for the teams in the 2017 Section 6AA Soccer Tournament.  Here's a preview of the pairings in both the girls and boys tournaments.

First up is the girls quarterfinal pairings and the top seed is the Wayzata Trojans as they face the eighth seeded Minneapolis South Tigers.  The Trojans, under veteran head coach Tony Pesznecker are unbeaten with a record of 12-0-3.  Two of the ties were against the Edina Hornets and the other was against the Minnetonka Skippers.  The Trojans not only the top seed in the section, they are also the number one team in Class AA. They are also one of the most difficult teams to score against as their tough and talented defense has give up only four goals in the regular season.  They face a Tiger team that has had trouble putting the ball in the net as they were shut out by Minneapolis Washburn and St. Paul Academy in their last two games.  Keep an eye on Wayzata.  They could be on the road to adding another trophy to their case at the Plymouth campus.

In the second quarterfinal game, the fifth seeded Hopkins Royals head to St. Paul to face the fourth seeded Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. It's a rematch of a game played September 5 with the Raiders beating the Royals 2-1.  Hopkins has been on a two game winning streak with victories over Lake Conference rivals Eden Prairie and Minnetonka.  Cretin-Derham Hall has recovered from a 1-5 start to finish 5-8-2.  Can the Royals continue their momentum against the Raiders?

Heading to the lower bracket as the sixth seeded Armstrong Falcons heads to St. Louis Park to battle the third seeded Orioles.  The Falcons won three consecutive games before getting shut out by Wayzata in the regular season finale.  The Orioles will try to end a season ending two game losing streak where they lost to powerhouses Benilde-St. Margaret's and Minneapolis Washburn.  Prior to the last two games, St. Louis Park was on a 9-0-1 run.  They got outstanding goalkeeping from senior Olivia Massie who has recorded six shutouts.  They are a talented team with good young talent that could be a contender.

And in the final quarterfinal matchup, it's the Battle of Minneapolis as the seventh seeded Southwest Lakers take on the second seeded Washburn Millers.  It's the third meeting between the two conference rivals with the Millers on top in both games.  Washburn has been on a outstanding scoring run since they lost to the East Ridge Raptors on September 13.  They have scored 25 unanswered goals and outscored their opponents 46-6.  The Millers, ranked second in Class AA could set up a championship showdown with the top seeded Trojans.

Now it's on to the boys quarterfinal pairings as the top seeded Wayzata Trojans go up against the ninth seeded Richfield Spartans.  In March, the section was realigned to included nine teams and Richfield advance via a play-in game victory over the Hopkins Royals.  Over the last seven games, the Trojans have outscored the opposition 26-2.  As for the Spartans, they have not won a game since they shut out the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights 2-0 on September 7.  The Trojans are the team to beat in Section 6AA

Looking at the second game, the fifth seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers face the fourth seeded Bloomington Kennedy Eagles.  The Lakers hope to end a two game losing streak against the Eagles, a newcomer to the section.  Kennedy was on a role early in the season as they got off to a 6-2 start, including an overtime loss to Holy Angels.  A key section win came on September 12 when they shut out the St. Louis Park Orioles 1-0.  Are the Eagles for real and can they contend with Wayzata if they beat Southwest?

As for the third seeded Orioles, they enter quarterfinal play against a team they beat 2-0 on August 29, the sixth seeded Minneapolis South Tigers.  St. Louis Park has really improved on last season winning 10 games, compared with three.  They have also played outstanding soccer, winning six of seven games before falling to the Minneapolis Washburn Millers in the regular season finale.  The Tigers got off to a slow start at 0-5 and have gone 5-3-2 heading into section play.  The two losses came to nonconference opponents Hastings and Blake.  Can South pull off the upset or will St. Louis Park get back on track and play solid defense against the Tigers?

Wrapping up the quarterfinals is the second seeded Minneapolis Washburn Millers and the seventh seeded Armstrong Falcons.  The Millers got off to a hot start going 6-0-2 before they lost to Wayzata 1-0.  However, they concluding the season with a three game losing streak and hope to increase it to four against the Falcons, who have go 2-5 in their last seven games.  They have played only one game against a section opponent, the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers on September 20 and came up short 2-1.  Washburn could be a huge test for Plymouth based Armstrong, the only section team from the Northwest Suburban Conference.

Section play gets underway Thursday, October 12.  Get outside and enjoy exciting high school soccer as the road to the state tournament gets exciting.