The Cedarburg girls soccer team is unbeaten and has been spent the entire season atop the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Division 1 state poll, but the Bulldogs will have to navigate an extremely difficult sectional if they're going to earn their first WIAA state tournament berth since 2004.
Cedarburg (16-0-1) is the top seed in the 16-team Germantown sectional, which features four of the top eight teams in the WSCA Division 1 poll. The WIAA announced the seeding and brackets for all three divisions Friday.
The Germantown sectional also includes second-seeded Hartland Arrowhead (11-3-2), No. 3 seed Hartford (15-2-3), fourth-seeded Germantown (14-4-1), No. 5 seed Whitefish Bay (12-3-2) and sixth-seeded Grafton (15-6-2). Germantown is ranked fourth, Whitefish Bay fifth and Hartford is eighth, while Arrowhead and Grafton were honorable mention in Friday's season-ending poll.
Only one other Division 1 sectional includes more than one ranked team: the Brookfield Central sectional, where the host and ninth-ranked Lancers (15-5-1) are seeded first and seventh-ranked Milwaukee DSHA (13-4-2) is second.
Second-ranked Waunakee (21-0-2) also is a sectional host, with Verona (11-4-2) seeded second and Oregon (13-3-1) – honorable mention in the state poll – the No. 3 seed.
2012 WIAA TOURNAMENT |
May 31: Regional semifinals |
The other No. 1 seeds in Division 1 are third-ranked and defending champion Appleton North (16-1-1), sixth-ranked Eau Claire Memorial (20-0-2), 10th-ranked Kimberly (18-2-3), Waukesha West (15-4-0) and Kenosha Tremper (18-3-1).
Each of the four Division 2 sectionals features more than one team either ranked or honorable mention in the final WSCA poll, but the Campbellsport sectional is the only one with two ranked sides: third-ranked Appleton Xavier (18-2-3) is the top seed, while fifth-ranked Sheboygan Falls (17-2-2) is the No. 2 seed.
Top-ranked Waukesha Catholic Memorial (15-4-3), which has qualified for state each of the past six seasons, is the No. 1 seed in a Shorewood sectional that includes second-seeded New Berlin Eisenhower (14-8-2) and fourth-seeded Walworth Big Foot-Williams Bay (16-3-3), which both were honorable mention in the final poll.
Reigning state champion Madison Edgewood (7-7-4) is the second seed in the Mount Horeb sectional behind the second-ranked and host Vikings (16-3-0). Third-seeded Lodi (17-5-1) joined Edgewood in earning honorable mention from the coaches' ranking panel.
Fourth-ranked Ashland (21-0-1) is the top seed in the top half of the Stevens Point sectional, while honorable mention Seymour (20-4-0) earned the No. 1 seed in the bottom half of the bracket.
The toughest sectional in Division 3 looks like the Brookfield Academy bracket, which includes top-seeded and fourth-ranked Racine Prairie School (13-3-1), No. 2 seed and third-ranked Kenosha Christian Life (17-4-0) and third-seeded and fifth-ranked Brookfield Academy (15-6-1).
Top-ranked Menasha St. Mary Central (18-1-2) is seeded first in the bottom half of the Stevens Point sectional with honorable mention Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (13-2-4) second and Eau Claire Regis (10-4-3) the No. 1 seed on the top half of the bracket.
In Sectional 2, with a final site still to be determined, second-ranked Lake Country Lutheran-University Lake School (15-2-0) heads up the lower half of the bracket and honorable mention La Crosse Aquinas (12-4-3) tops the upper half.
Howards Grove (16-2-3) and Winnebago Lutheran (14-3-3), both honorable mention in the final poll, are the top two seeds in the Fond du Lac Springs sectional.
Tag(s): Prep Girls