South St. Paul at Mahtomedi
5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 17

South St. Paul has gotten off to a slow start, but that’s nothing new for the Packers, who opened last season with a 0-5-2 mark before closing out the regular season on a 7-1-1 tear. South St. Paul made its way to the Class 1A, Section 4 championship, where it lost to Hill-Murray 3-1.

The Packers didn’t give Mahtomedi much of a challenge in two meetings last year as the Zephyrs came away with 5-0 and 3-0 victories.

Mahtomedi (4-2) opens Metro East Conference play with a meeting against league rival South St. Paul (3-3, 1-1) and enter the matchup having lost two of its last three games. The No. 2-1A Zephyrs fell to East Ridge 2-1 before bouncing back with a 6-1 win over Stillwater.

In a 4-1 loss to No. 4-2A Mounds View, Mahtomedi couldn’t do much to slow down the Mustangs despite leading 1-0 on a goal from Karleen Yapello. The senior has four goals on the season and Michelle Austin leads the Zephyrs with six.