The 2018 high school soccer regular season concluded last Saturday and the road to the state tournament begins Thursday, October 11 with the quarterfinals of the Section 6AA Girls Soccer Tournament. Here's a preview of the four quarterfinal games.
In the first game, the Minneapolis South Tigers will need to find a way to create scoring opportunities as they face one of the state's top teams, the top seeded Wayzata Trojans. Mpls. South's last four games have been decided by a 3-0 margin and they have lost three with the lone win coming against Mpls. Henry. As for the Trojans, they took third in last year's state Class AA tournament and head coach Tony Pesznecker has another outstanding team that won their first four games by a combined score of 14-0. Though Wayzata lost their final regular season game to the Blake Bears on October 4 1-0, they are the favorites to return to the state tournament.
The second upper bracket game will feature a rematch between a pair of Mpls. City Conference teams, the fifth seeded Mpls. Southwest Lakers and the fourth seeded Mpls. Washburn Millers. It will be the third meeting between the two schools. Washburn won the first game on September 4 1-0 and in the second meeting October 4, no balls went into the net as both teams played to a scoreless tie. It's a game that go either way or their could be a shootout to find out who will play Wayzata in the semifinals.
Now to the lower bracket where the sixth seeded Hopkins Royals ended a five game losing streak last Saturday with a 3-0 win over the Mpls. South Tigers. They will face the third seeded Armstrong Falcons who have won three of their last four games via shutout and lost their regular season finale to the Maple Grove Crimson. The Falcons are 1-2 against Section 6AA opponents with their only win against Southwest and the losses to Wayzata and Cretin-Derham Hall. Can they hit the .500 mark if they beat Hopkins?
Wrapping up the quarterfinal bracket is the seventh seeded St. Louis Park Orioles and the second seeded Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. The two teams played each other on August 29 with Cretin-Derham Hall defeating St. Louis Park 3-1. The Orioles got off to a slow start, losing their first three games before they shut out the Mpls. South Tigers 3-0 September 4. They would have a strong finish this season, including a stretch where they won three consecutive games by an identical 2-0 score. CDH has been on a roll, winning eiight of their last nine games. Can the Orioles pull off the upset or will the Raiders continue their hot run toward a possible showdown with Wayzata?
Next up, the 2018 Section 6AA Boys Soccer Tournament Preview
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