The 2018 MIAA boys soccer state tournament pairings were released Wednesday afternoon and there’s no shortage of local teams vying for postseason runs.
In Division 1 North, St. John’s Prep, Peabody and Revere are the three local teams that qualified for the tournament. St. John’s Prep earned the No. 9 seed with a 12-2-4 regular-season record. The Eagles travel to No. 8 Chelmsford Friday (4). Peabody finished the regular season at 11-4-3 and earned the No. 10 seed. The Tanners travel to No. 7 Medford Saturday (6).
Revere drew the No. 12 seed with a 10-5-3 record. The Patriots visit No. 5 Somerville Friday (6).
In Division 2 North, the Classical Rams return to the state tournament after winning the Northeastern Conference last week. Classical, under the direction of first-year coach Eric Moreno, Jr., went 10-2-6 during the regular season. The Rams earned the No. 5 seed and a preliminary round bye. They’ll host No. 12 Shawsheen in the first round Sunday (1).
In Division 3 North, Lynnfield, Saugus and Swampscott all qualified for the postseason. Lynnfield went 14-2-2 during the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed of the sectional bracket. With that, the Pioneers were granted a first round bye and await the winner between No. 8 Newburyport and No. 9 Weston. The quarterfinal round game between the Pioneers and Newburyport/Weston will take place Sunday (2:30). Saugus is in the tournament for the second consecutive season after breaking a 20-year postseason drought last fall. Coach Larry Bolduc and his Sachems finished the regular season at 12-6 and earned the No. 7 seed in the bracket. They’ll host No. 10 Northeast Friday (2:30).
“We’re very happy with playing a familiar team,” Bolduc said. “We beat them last year, 3-2. They’re a good team, they have speed and quickness. We know them and they know us. The upside is we’re a better team than we were last year. We’ve won five in a row, hopefully we can carry that into Friday’s game.
“It’s a special time for the players to be back in the tournament,” Bolduc added. “Especially this year, we had a struggle in the middle of the season. The kids are saying it, we’re even stronger than we were last season. All the seniors are dying to get back and play in a tournament stage. We definitely want to advance this year.”
Swampscott’s the No. 12 seed with a 7-8-3 record during the regular season. The Big Blue visit Pentucket Friday (2:30).
In Division 4 North, St. Mary’s, Tech and Bishop Fenwick will each compete for a state championship. The No. 2 Spartans had a rocky start to the regular season but finished on a high note, including a 6-0 win over Lowell Catholic earlier this week in the regular season finale. St. Mary’s (15-2-2), has a bye in the preliminary round and awaits the winner of No. 15 Rockport and No. 18 Matignon. The first round game between the Spartans and Rockport/Matignon will be played Sunday (3).
Tech, with Eric Moreno, Sr.’s guidance, went 10-6-2 during the regular season. The Tigers earned the No. 8 seed in the bracket and host No. 9 Manchester Saturday (3). Bishop Fenwick went 8-4-3 during the regular season and drew the bracket’s No. 10 seed. The Crusaders travel to Boston to clash against tournament mainstay No. 7 Boston International Saturday (4).
“We’re pretty happy with what we drew,” Fenwick coach Tony Enos said. “We’ll face St. Mary’s if we can get past Boston International. They’re a good team. We talked about it. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll do our best to prepare and take it as it comes.”
