[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Cold nights barreling down on Minnesota mean the regular high school soccer season is coming to a close and playoffs are close behind. The boys have one more game this week against Minneapolis Henry/North, which they are widely expected to win. After that, it’s sectional playoffs, which begin October 15. But what does that mean? For those unfamiliar with how sectionals and the state tournament works, here’s a quick primer.
Sectional Seedings and Playoffs
First up is sectional playoffs. This year Washburn has moved up to Class AA (“double A”). Double A for soccer includes the 64 largest high schools in the state by enrollment—schools after the first 64 are categorized as Class A, or “single A.” The Millers also in section 6, and you will see the term “6AA” thrown around to mean, you guessed it, section 6 of class AA. For boys soccer, eight teams are in 6AA, including:
- Wayzata
- Minneapolis South
- Minneapolis Southwest
- Minneapolis Washburn
- St. Louis Park
- Hopkins
- Robbinsdale Cooper
- Robbinsdale Armstrong
Coaches from each 6AA team meet on October 11 to hash out the seeds for the 6AA sectional playoffs [Update: the 6AA bracket]. A team’s seed in sectionals will essentially determine two things: who you play and where you play. As in most tournaments, higher seeds initially play lower seeds. Plus, the higher seeds in sectionals retain home field advantage for each match. Thus, if you are seeded first (as Washburn was for the 3A playoffs last year) you maintain home field advantage throughout the sectional playoffs.
Pure Speculation on Seeding
If I were to guess as to the seeding for sectionals (and this is purely speculative on my part and is not at all endorsed by any of the Washburn coaches or the soccer program), the sectional playoffs will probably look something like this, based mostly on overall team records and head-to-head competition during the regular season:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
[bracketsninja bracketid=”9a4d39d3685e4ad1963d92e392fbe0df” height=”400″]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The two top seeds, Wayzata and Minneapolis South, could potentially be swapped out and reversed so that South is number 1 and Wayzata is number 2. After all, South beat Wayzata 2-1 earlier in the season. The most recent coaches poll, however, has Wayzata ranked sixth in the state in AA, with South close behind at eighth.
Determining seeds 3-5 is a bit dicier, though the edge probably goes to Minneapolis Southwest as the number 3 seed, having a current 9-3-3 record, including a 1-0-1 record against the Millers. Whether the Millers can beat out St. Louis Park for the important fourth seed (and home field advantage at least for the first match) is also tricky. The Orioles had draws against Minneapolis South and Wayzata during the regular season but have only won four games so far this season. I’m going with Washburn, as they have a better overall record, have finished strong and defeated tough opponents, and have never lost a match by more than one goal (going all the way back to October 2013).
As for the remaining 6-8 seeds, it seems pretty easy to rank them in order of Hopkins, Robbinsdale Cooper, and Robbinsdale Armstrong. Thus, my completely speculative seeding has Washburn playing at home against St. Louis Park on October 15, followed by a match on October 17 against the 6AA number 1 seed if the Millers advance past the Orioles. The final for 6AA playoffs, assuming we continue to advance, is on October 20. Update: the actual 6AA bracket.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
And That’s Just the Beginning
Sectional playoffs are just the start of the journey to a state championship. Plus, like the state tournament, it is a single-elimination playoff. Lose one and you’re done. Which explains why weekly rankings are generally meaningless during the season and, more importantly, how hard it is to advance to the state tournament each year, let alone win it.
How do you get to the big game? You win your section. Each sectional playoff winner (and there are eight AA sections, each with about 8 teams) earns a spot in the state tournament quarterfinals, which begin October 27 at various sites depending on seeding. Again, officials meet to determine the top eight seeds to the AA state tournament, with the first five being selected and the remaining three seeds chosen randomly.
If you advance past the quarterfinals of the state tournament, the semi-final matches are November 2 at St. Cloud State University, with the championship at SCSU’s Husky Stadium on November 5. Yeah, a long haul for any team to win at least three matches to get to the tournament and then win three more in a row to claim the whole shebang. But, Washburn varsity girls did it last year (at least finishing second in state) and there’s at least a good chance that that both teams can do it this year. So, get out and support Millers soccer in post-season play.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]