Benilde-St. Margaret's at Orono
3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 9

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s-Orono rivalry has been among the state’s best for the better part of a decade. The two former Class 1A, Section 6 rivals met seven times for the title from 2007-14 and traded off state championships in 2014 and 2015. The Spartans won in 2014 after beating the Red Knights on penalty kicks in the Section 6 championship and the next year Benilde-St. Margaret’s beat Orono for the state title.

By their standards, the Spartans struggled in 2016, finishing 12-6 and getting upset in the Section 6 playoffs by eventual champion Waconia. But Orono (3-0-1, 1-0) returned battling last year’s Class 1A runner-up Mankato West, which is now ranked sixth, to a 1-1 tie on Aug. 25 to start the year. Since then, No. 5-1A Orono has rattled off three straight wins over DeLaSalle (3-0), Glencoe-Silver Lake (4-0) and Rochester Lourdes (6-1). Anna Hughes leads the team with three goals and two assists.

The Red Knights (1-1-1) might be reeling from a scoreless tie to No. 2-1A Hill-Murray on Aug. 29 and a 1-0 overtime loss to Blake on Aug. 31 but it shouldn’t take much to get ready for a game like this.

The Red Knights opened the season on Aug. 26 with a 3-0 win over Breck where Madison Stoks, Kay Frenzese and Ingrid Lundberg scored, and they'll be hungry to erase their recent scoring woes and get the ball in the net on Saturday