Soccer State Tournaments begin journey for 2022 championships
The Boys and Girls Soccer State Tournaments open a two-week run on Oct. 25
Posted: Monday, October 24, 2022 - 8:51 AM
When the Minnesota State High School League’s Soccer State Tournaments open a two-week run on Oct. 25, it is expected to be twice as exciting for 10 programs of participating member schools. That’s because in the three enrollment classes, there are 10 programs that have qualifiers in both the boys and girls state tournaments, respectively.
Here is a look at the member school programs that are hopeful of capturing two state championships:
· Class A --- Rochester Lourdes, St. Anthony Village, St. Cloud Cathedral, St. Paul Academy and Summit School.
· Class AA --- Cloquet-Esko-Carlton qualified for the boys’ tournament and Cloquet-Carlton is on the girls’ side. Esko is also in the girls tournament as the Section 7A champion.
· Class AAA --- Edina, Rosemount, St. Michael-Albertville and Wayzata.
Both Wayzata teams are top-seeded in the Class AAA field.
On the boys’ side, Wayzata’s only loss was a 3-2 setback to Eden Prairie on Oct. 3 in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Since that loss, the Trojans (16-1-2) have outscored the opposition 22-1 in the ensuing four games. Wayzata last won a boys soccer championship in 2017. The Wayzata girls team is undefeated at 17-0-1. The only blemish in that run was a 2-2 tie with Minnetonka on Sept. 6 during a Lake Conference game. Longtime Trojans coach Tony Peszneker is in his 33rd season and has 525 career victories and seven state championships.
Mahtomedi is the top seed in the Class AA girls’ field. The Zephyrs are 16-2-0, their only two losses to White Bear Lake and Woodbury, respectively, early in the season. Mahtomedi has won a state-record 10 soccer championships.
The other top seed in the girls tournament is Providence Academy in Class A. Other top seeds in the boys’ tournament are Southwest Christian (Class A) and Hill-Murray (Class AA). Southwest Christian is the reigning Class A champion.
Briefly: Stillwater, the defending Class AAA girls champion, returns for what it hopes will be a successful title defense. The Ponies are the No. 3 seed and on a four-game winning streak into the state tournament.
Rosemount’s girls team has surrendered four goals all season, two of which came in a 2-0 loss to Stillwater on Sept. 6, The Irish are 18-1 and seeded No. 2.
