Rochester Lourdes at Hermantown
11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 27

Rochester Lourdes and Hermantown both qualified for the Class 1A state tournament last year and look to use this opening week game against top-tier talent as a tuneup for the regular season.

Lourdes has been a regular participant at state recently. The Eagles made their sixth consecutive trip to state a season ago — and their 12th overall this millennium — but fell to top-seeded St. Thomas Academy 3-1 in the opening round. Lourdes’ depth has shown through the years and that will be no different this season as seniors Dany Berbari (20 goals) — a second-team all-state selection — and Tiernan Talbot (19 assists) return as the team's top scorer and distributor. 

Senior Noah Morris again mans the goal for the fourth-ranked Eagles. His presence will be key for a Lourdes team looking for its defense to continue being stingy. The Eagles replaced their entire unit a year ago, but it hardly showed as the team allowed an average of 1.0 goal per game. A year older and wiser, their defense is expected to carry on its tradition.

Hermantown is coming off its third trip to state, where it earned the No. 3 seed after going undefeated in the regular season and sections. The No. 10-1A Hawks were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Faribault in a penalty-kick shootout.

Class 1A’s Mr. Soccer winner, Daniel Hedstrom, was one of 13 graduates lost by Hermantown, but seniors Tyler Pilon, Parker Simmons and junior Ryan Lenz should help pick up the slack.