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 If the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association polls are a good barometer of the state's top boys soccer teams, then the WIAA Division 2 Pewaukee sectional figures to be an incredibly difficult bracket.
The 17-team sectional includes the top four teams in the latest WSCA Division 2 poll – Milwaukee Thomas More, Shorewood, Pewaukee and Waukesha Catholic Memorial – along with East Troy, which is now honorable mention after being ranked earlier this year.
However, the coaches in the sectional saw the strength of those teams differently than poll voters. Pewaukee (17-2-0) is seeded first, followed by defending state champion Catholic Memorial (10-5-1) and East Troy (21-2-0), while Thomas More (10-9-1) is seeded sixth and Shorewood (7-6-3) seventh.
The WIAA announced the brackets Thursday. All but two of the 16 sectionals are fully seeded; the Stevens Point sectional in both divisions 2 and 3 continues to be split in half geographically, then seeded.
In Division 1, only one sectional includes three teams in the latest WSCA state poll: the Brookfield Central sectional, which features No. 7 Menomonee Falls (17-3-2) as the top seed, followed by No. 3 Brookfield East (16-4-0) and No. 8 Brookfield Central (8-3-1).
The other No. 1 seeds in Division 1 are Green Bay Preble (14-5-2), top-ranked and reigning state champion Milwaukee Marquette (17-0-0), second-ranked Middleton (17-3-1), Eau Claire Memorial (14-5-1), fourth-ranked Waukesha West (18-1-3), fifth-ranked Neenah (14-3-1) and 10th-ranked Kenosha Tremper (18-2-1).
No. 5 Green Bay Notre Dame (18-4-0) also is a top seed in Division 2, along with Pewaukee, Mount Horeb (14-2-2) and Amery (16-2-1).
In Division 3, top-ranked Milwaukee St. Anthony (15-8-0) and fourth-ranked Kohler (21-2-1) are No. 1 seeds, as are Wausau Newman (15-2-1) and Racine St. Catherine's (13-7-0), both honorable mention. Second-ranked Racine Prairie School (14-2-2) – the defending state champion – is seeded second behind St. Catherine's, while fifth-ranked Green Bay NEW Lutheran (18-1-2) is seeded third in the bracket with Kohler.
The WIAA tournament starts Saturday with seven regional quarterfinal "play-in games" Saturday in divisions 2 and 3, with the vast majority of teams kicking off the postseason with regional semifinals Tuesday. Regional finals are next Thursday with sectionals Oct. 20 and 22 and the state tournament Oct. 27 to 29 at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.
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