Wisconsin Soccer Central

Through the first three rounds of this year's WIAA boys soccer tournament, higher-seeded teams have won 85 percent of the 191 matches.

Higher seeds are 163-21-7 heading into Thursday's sectional semifinals, with the majority of the upsets involving teams seeded close to one another.

Two of the bigger surprises, according to the seedings determined by coaches, included a pair of regional semifinals in the Division 1 Kettle Moraine sectional last Tuesday night: No. 14 West Allis Hale knocked off No. 3 Middleton 3-2 and No. 10 Madison La Follette outlasted No. 7 Sun Prairie 5-4 in double overtime. In a Division 2 regional semifinal, No. 7 Port Washington beat second-seeded Watertown 1-0.

In the regional finals, sixth-seeded Winneconne posted an impressive 5-0 victory over No. 3 Seymour on Thursday in Division 3 – the Thunder came in with just one loss on the season, while the Wolves extended their unbeaten streak to 18 (15-0-3).

Here's a breakdown of how higher-seeded sides have fared:

Thursday's sectional final schedule
WIAA tournament brackets

• Milwaukee Marquette (20-1-2) moved up three spots to No. 19 in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25. The Hilltoppers remained third in the Region VI rankings, which also include No. 7 Madison West, No. 9 Whitefish Bay, No. 12 Brookfield East and No. 14 Oregon.
• Marquette also rose two places to No. 22 in this week's Top Drawer Soccer Fab 50 rankings. The Hilltoppers retained their spot at No. 4 in the website's Great Lakes Region rankings, and remained atop the Wisconsin rankings ahead of Brookfield East and Whitefish Bay.