Photo Courtesy of Nicole Miller (MP Sports Social Media)

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls soccer team kicks off the tournament trail tonight on their home pitch with a Class 1A regional quarterfinal match against Central Lee. Mid-Prairie is 10-6 this season, they finished 7-3 in the River Valley Conference. In their last action they won an exciting Senior Night contest Friday, on a golden goal in double overtime beating Bellevue 3-2. The Golden Hawks have outscored their opponents 44-32 this year with six defensive shut outs. Individual leaders include Amara Jones with 11 goals and Kina Miller with seven assists and 105 saves with an 88% save percentage.

Central Lee is 7-5 this year. They had a four match winning streak snapped in their last contest, a 5-2 loss to Burlington Notre Dame. This year the Hawks have outscored their opponents 32-23 with three defensive shut outs. Individual leaders include Aburee Boyd with 11 goals. She and Addy Brumble have three assists each and Bailey Schwartz has made 42 saves in goal with a 78% save percentage. This week, Mid-Prairie head girls soccer coach Truman Shetler joined the KCII PM Sports Page to talk about the keys to the playoffs and how his team is peaking at the right time. Shetler says, “Only having two games this last week, we were able to have some more practice and heel up a little bit. They are very similar to us. They have three or four girls who each have more than five goals. We know that they are capable of scoring. A lot of their games have been pretty close. They have a really good midfielder that we have been preparing for. We have to try to contain her. We need to focus on what we do. If we play our game I think we’ll be alright. Focus on defense, make sure we’re staying in good shape. Cover for each other.”

Mid-Prairie has won both prior meetings between the two schools, including a 2-0 victory last season. The winner tonight faces the winner of top seed Van Meter and Centerville Tuesday at Van Meter. Action between both teams of Hawks starts tonight at 7p.m. at the Wellman Rotary Soccer Complex.