Possible upsets, top-ranked battles and undefeated seasons are on the line: We pick the section tournament to watch for each class of Minnesota high school soccer.

By Cassidy Hettesheimer

The Minnesota Star Tribune

October 8, 2024 at 4:29PM

Jenna Maloy of White Bear Lake leads the undefeated Bears with 28 goals. (Provided)

It’s win or go home as soccer kicks off the fall high school tournament season.

In some section tournaments, the best teams in Minnesota will face one another with a spot in the state tournament on the line. State quarterfinals begin Oct. 22, with postseason play running through the state championships on Nov. 1.

But, before that: Here are six section tournaments to closely watch:

Class 3A girls: Section 4

Making it out of Section 4 in 3A girls soccer might be a gantlet as tough as the state tournament, with four top-10 teams: No. 1 White Bear Lake (13-0-2), No. 3 Woodbury (11-1-2), No. 4 East Ridge (6-6-2) and No. 8 Stillwater (9-3-4).

White Bear Lake senior Jenna Maloy’s 28 goals top the section in scoring, and while the Bears are undefeated, even the lowest seed of this quartet (2021 state champion Stillwater) battled them to a 3-3 draw in early October. Woodbury junior goalkeeper Samantha Mattes has conceded only three goals this season outside of a 6-1 loss to White Bear Lake in September.

White Bear Lake made it out of the section last year before losing to Maple Grove in the state quarterfinals.

Class 3A boys: Section 2

No. 2 Minnetonka (13-1-1) got the better of No. 6 Edina (10-2-3) in the Lake Conference standings, but the Hornets handed the Skippers their only loss of the season so far (3-2 on Sept. 5).

In the Class 3A, Section 2 tournament, the two teams have met every year since 2019 — the season Edina won its last state title. Last year, Minnetonka got its first win of the five-game stretch, 1-0 in the section final.

The Edina coaching partnership of Dave Jenson and Billy Garner reached 500 wins this season; whether they can get another key win over Minnetonka is the question.

Class 2A girls: Section 5

After losing to eventual state champion Benilde-St. Margaret’s 2-1 in last year’s section championship, Blake (15-0-1) opened the season by defeating the Red Knights 3-0 on Aug. 24. The undefeated Bears, No. 2 in their class and led in scoring by Livi Abboud-Young’s 18 goals, will have to play their way through Benilde-St. Margaret’s (10-3-1) again if they want to return to state for the first time since 2019.

No. 7 Orono (8-4-2) could be a dark horse to make it out of the section, losing to Blake 3-0 on Sept. 21 but playing the Red Knights close in a 1-0 loss on Sept. 10.

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Class 2A boys: Section 3

Class 2A’s boys state championship odds would shift significantly if Simley (8-4-3), St. Paul Highland Park (7-4-2) or St. Thomas Academy (5-6-4) can knock off No. 1 Holy Angels in the section tournament. Holy Angels (14-1) has only lost one this year, and that was 1-0 to Class 3A’s No. 1 Minneapolis Washburn on Sept. 14. Not bad.

Richfield (7-5-4) and Hill-Murray (6-9) are the two section teams that have made it to state since Holy Angels earned a state berth in 2021. Meanwhile, Simley has one of the top goal-chance creators in junior Michael Hernandez, with 18 assists this year.

Class 1A girls: Section 6

Both Southwest Christian (15-0-1) and Watertown-Mayer (14-0-2) enter sections undefeated and No. 1 and No. 3 in 1A girls soccer, respectively.

Should these teams meet in a section final, there’s a lot to suggest this will be an even match. They’ve already drawn against one another, 1-1 in September. Both teams’ defenses have only conceded six goals this year. Freshman Ainsley Blair’s 29 goals for Watertown-Mayer puts her among the state’s top scorers, while senior Maya Johnson leads Southwest Christian with 21 goals.

Southwest Christian made its first state tournament last year and is looking to go back-to-back, while Watertown-Mayer hopes to punch its first ticket to state — both new to the state scene, but making noise.

Rochester Lourdes forward Blake Moynagh dribbles while holding off Minneapolis Roosevelt midfielder Juan Botello during the Eagles' 3-1 victory on the final game of the regular season Oct. 1. (Richard Tsong-Taatariii/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Class 1A boys: Section 1

Southeast Minnesota remains a soccer stronghold, and the boys’ Section 1 should prove a classic example in Class 1A. Winona Cotter (15-1) packed its regular-season schedule full of section opponents and beat everyone but No. 5 Rochester Lourdes (12-3-1), losing 2-1 on October 5. Rochester Lourdes filled its regular season with top-10 opponents in its class and heads into sections on a seven-game win streak.

Sophomore Gavin Kammerer has scored 20 goals for Cotter, while junior keeper Ezra Burros has posted a 91.7% save percentage. In a section tournament matchup, Burros would have to deal with Lourdes’ four players that have recorded at least 11 goals this year.