This season is a historic one for Minnesota high school soccer as the state tournament expands from two classes to three. Both St. Louis Park Orioles teams are in Section 6AAA and here's a look at how the sections shape up.
First up is the boys bracket and the top seeded Minneapolis Southwest Lakers enter section play unbeaten and looking for their first state tournament trip since 2013. The Lakers have been playing solid defense in their final three regular season games, outscoring their opponents 6-0. A key nonconference win came on September 21 over the Minnetonka Skippers 3-1. Their quarterfinal opponent is the eighth seeded Cooper Hawks who hope to end an eight game losing streak. It won't be easy against a tough Southwest team.
Should the Lakers prevail in the quarterfinals, they will play the winner of the fifth seeded Armstrong Falcons and the fourth seeded St. Louis Park Orioles. The Falcons, the only Northwest Suburban Conference team in the section has had an up and down season. They lost four straight games outscored 12-2 before finishing the regular season winning four of their last five games. Looking at the Orioles under the veteran leadership of Chato, they lost their regular season opener to the perennial section power Wayzata Trojans before embarking on a nine game winning streak. However, St. Louis Park hit a bump in the road to wrap up the regular season, losing three of their last four games, including a 3-1 defeat to section rival Minneapolis Washburn in the season finale. Can the Orioles get back on track or will the Falcons pull a upset?
And speaking of Washburn, the Millers com in as the third seed. They have won four of their last five games by a margin of 10-2 and have not given up more than two goals in their four defeats. They will face their conference rival, the sixth seeded Minneapolis South Tigers in the quarterfinals. It will be a rematch of the September 14 game that was won by Washburn 5-1. The Tigers got off to a hot start with four straight wins but have cooled off going 3-4-1 since then. Could South pull an upset or will Washburn make it two straight against the Tigers?
Wrapping up the quarterfinals is a Lake Conference battle between the second seeded Wayzata Trojans and the sixth seeded Hopkins Royals. The two teams played each other twice in the regular season with the Trojans recording shutouts of 3-0 and 2-0. Wayzata won their first seven games before they got blanked by the Edina Hornets 3-0 on September 20. They face a Hopkins team that has won only two regular season games. The Trojans have a great shot to earn their 16th trip to the state tournament but could they get past Southwest if they meet in the section finals?
Next up will be the girls Section 6AAA preview.
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