No league title? No problem.
The Bayfield High School girls soccer team will play in its sixth consecutive state tournament Friday after receiving an at-large bid.
The Wolverines are the No. 14 seed and will play No. 19 Manitou Springs on Friday in Broomfield at the home of No. 3 Jefferson Academy.
“It’s higher than I thought it would be. I think we were ranked 15 on MaxPreps (Sunday) morning, and we’ve never been higher than what MaxPreps said we were,” BHS head coach Jen Zelinski said. “Seeing that we were a wild card, I thought we were going to be pretty low.”
The bracket’s top eight teams received first-round byes and will host second-round matchups Saturday.
CHSAA moved from a 32-team bracket to a 24-team bracket after adding Class 2A in girls soccer this season, reducing the number of teams in 3A.
Colorado Academy is the bracket’s top seed, and Bayfield league mate Alamosa is the No. 13 seed, playing No. 20 Aspen at No. 4 Kent Denver.
BHS (11-2) and Manitou Springs (9-6) also met in the first round last season, with the Mustangs winning 6-0 at home.
“We’ve played twice before and have yet to beat them,” Zelinski said. “They have a lot of girls that play year-round. We know a bit of what to expect.”
The Mustangs feature two dangerous scorers in Brooklyn Mack and Kasidee Palmer.
Mack, a freshman, has scored 18 times this season, and Palmer found the back of the net 11 times.
Manitou Springs is the champion of Class 3A Region 2 with a 5-0 record, which includes a 2-1 win over the Salida team that BHS beat 1-0.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com