St. Paul Academy at Visitation
4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 9

After reaching the Class 1A state tournament for the first time since 2004 and capturing the No. 2 overall seed, St. Paul Academy was shown an early exit in the biggest upset of the 2016 tournament when Dover-Eyota picked up a 4-1 victory over the Spartans in the quarterfinals. That marred an otherwise sensational year for the Spartans, who finished 15-3-3.

Despite graduating Kathryn Bond, a 25-goal scorer, and Lauren Hansen, a 15-goal scorer, No. 8-1A St. Paul Academy (2-0) started the year with 5-0 victories over Trinity and St. Paul Highland Park. Olivia Lagos had four goals against the Tri Hawks and Hayley Hoffmann scored twice against the Scots.

Section 3 rival Visitation put together a 16-2-1 season a year ago with one of those losses coming against the Spartans. The second-seeded Blazers were upset 1-0 in a shootout by third-seeded Holy Angels in last year’s semifinals.

Visitation (2-0-1) will likely vie for another high seed in the playoffs despite graduating 32-goal scorer and Ms. Soccer Class 1A recipient, Maggie Conners, and Martha Koenig, a 17-goal scorer. Sammie Sabin and Katherine Jones have two goals each and have helped fill the void early this season.