For the past five years, the Acadiana area has ended the high school soccer season with at least one state championship.
And that’s a credit to the St. Thomas More girls program, which has won the Division II state title every year since 2018.
However, last season the STM boys soccer team got in on the action as they helped the area sweep the Division II finals, beating East Jefferson 1-0 in the state championship game. It was the STM’s first boys soccer title since 2017 and the area’s first in boys soccer since 2018 when Episcopal School of Acadiana won the Division IV championship.
The road to the state finals was unveiled by the LHSAA on Tuesday, as 19 Acadiana area boys teams and 22 girls teams earned playoff berths. Only the STM girls earned a No. 1 seed, while the STM boys received a No. 2 seeds. Teurlings Catholic’s girls and ESA’s boys were the only other programs to earn a top-five seed in their divisions.
“Seeding matters a little because there are certain matchups that you would like to play at home,” Cougars head girls soccer coach Daniel Underwood said. “Also, it guarantees you the opportunity to play the quarterfinals and semifinals at home.”
Underwood’s Cougars, who are 26-0-2 on the year, have the best chance to win a state championship as they are the clear favorites in Division II.
“We’re going for six in a row and this is the first year that I’ve openly admitted that we’re the favorites,” Underwood said. “We’re the favorites and justifiably so because we have proven it over the course of the season.”
Despite the lack of top 5 seeds, coaches are confident that the area has the talent to make a run at more than just one state championship.
“We have a lot of talent, especially in the Lafayette area,” Cougars boys coach John Plumbar said. “Even though we don’t have a lot of schools with a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, we have some boys and girls teams capable of making a run in the playoffs.”
ESA boys soccer coach Adam Glover said the seedings can be misleading sometimes.
“Yes and no,” Glover said when asked whether he was surprised by the lack of area teams seeded in the top five. “I get to watch a lot of soccer because I coach and I referee. I think what you are seeing is that a lot of coaches made their schedule a lot harder to challenge themselves and lost a couple more games than they did last year. We have some strong teams, and you don’t have to have a top two or three seed to win a state championship. Just look at what Newman did last year. They were a No. 10 seed and won the state championship.”
Glover had no complaints with where ESA landed on the bracket.
“We are happy where we are, and we are confident that we can make a run,” Glover said. “Last year, we got out earlier than we wanted to, but this year we have a chance to set the record straight.”
Underwood and his Cougars have their sights set high.
“We’re extremely confident, and we’re confident because of the amount of work and energy we’ve put in to get to this point,” Underwood said. “There’s pressure, but you have to be around this group to understand that they put a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves. Outside pressure doesn’t phase them.”
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