Looking ahead to MCC-GSL soccer tournaments

One week remains in the high school girls soccer regular season, and with two games remaining for most teams, little is certain about seeding or potential opponents for the Mid-Columbia Conference-Greater Spokane League district tournaments.

What is guaranteed is that all eight MCC teams will play at least one meaningful postseason game. Here’s a breakdown of what’s on the line for the conference’s squads entering the last week of the season, and a projection of what teams they could come up against from the GSL:

MCC Outlook

Among the Class 3A schools, Southridge (12-2, 10-2) has set the pace from start to finish, even with losses to 4A Richland (shootout) and Hanford (1-0).

However, the Suns still have a little bit of work to do to lock up the league’s No. 1 seed. A win Tuesday over Kennewick — which at 0-12 will be the MCC’s No. 3 seed in the district tournament — would put Southridge ahead of Kamiakin (9-5, 8-4) for good. The Suns will face the Braves in the regular season finale Saturday.

The 4A landscape is very similar at the top, with Hanford (11-3, 10-2) holding a two-game advantage over Chiawana (8-4, 8-4). The two teams carry the conference’s longest winning streaks — eight games for Hanford and four for Chiawana — into a showdown Tuesday, where the Falcons could either clinch the top spot for the classification or leave the door slightly ajar for the Riverhawks.

Richland (7-6, 6-6) was swept by Chiawana in head-to-head play this season, so its best-case scenario would be to hold on to it’s current No. 3 seed. That’s significant, because it means the Bombers would go straight into the double-elimination part of the district tournament and avoid a play-in game. They’ll clinch the spot with a win over Pasco on Tuesday or Hanford on Thursday, or if Pasco loses to Walla Walla on Thursday.

Pasco (6-8, 4-8) will try to hold on to its No. 4 seed, leading Walla Walla (3-10, 2-10) by two games. The No. 4 seed hosts the No. 5 seed in the district play-in game. The Blue Devils host the Bulldogs on Thursday in the regular season finale for both teams.

3A Tournament Preview

The seven Class 3A schools from the MCC and GSL are playing for two spots in district crossover games against either the Seattle Metro No. 5 team or the KingCo No. 2 seed. The MCC-GSL No. 1 team plays the loser of the game between those District 2 schools, and the No. 2 team plays the winner.

Kennewick will face the No. 4 GSL team — all but guaranteed to be Rogers (0-10, 0-7) — in a loser-out game next Monday at Lampson Stadium. The winner will play a loser-out game on the road Oct. 26 against the GSL No. 2 team — currently North Central (4-8, 2-5) via a head-to-head tiebreaker over Mt. Spokane (4-8, 3-4). The winner of that plays Southridge — unless overtaken in the standings by Kamiakin — on the road Oct. 29.

On the other side of the bracket, the MCC’s No. 2 team will host the GSL’s No. 3 team — almost definitely Shadle Park (3-8, 1-6) — on Oct. 26 for a shot at playing the top GSL team on Oct. 29.

The winner of each of next Saturday’s games will play Nov. 1 for the district’s No. 1 seed. The losers of those matches will play a loser-out game, with the winner playing the loser of the No. 1 seed match for the district’s No. 2 seed, which will take place on Nov. 3.

4A Tournament Preview

Like the 3A tournament, only two of the conferences’ 11 4A teams will advance out of the GSL-MCC tournament. But the berths get the teams directly into the state tournament — there are no crossover games.

Next Monday, the MCC’s No. 4 team (currently Pasco) will host the No. 5 team (Walla Walla), with the winner advancing to double-elimination play against the GSL No. 1 — currently Mead (12-1-1, 6-1), with Central Valley (8-3, 6-1) and Gonzaga Prep (9-4, 6-1) close behind.

In similar fashion, the MCC No. 1 team — again, likely Hanford — will face the winner of a play-in game between the GSL’s No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the first round. Those teams are still in flux, as the current No. 6 seed University (4-4-1, 3-4) could sneak into the No. 5 seed with a win over Ferris (7-3, 4-3) on Wednesday. Lewis and Clark (8-5, 4-3) will likely be in that play-in game.

The MCC’s No. 2 team will host the GSL’s No. 3 team — currently Gonzaga Prep, but could become Central Valley or even Mead — on Oct. 26. The GSL No. 2 — same three teams, currently Central Valley — will host the MCC No. 2.

Whichever team wins three matches without losing — not counting play-in games — will claim the No. 1 seed to state. The loser of the one-seed game on Nov. 3 will host the No. 2 seed game Nov. 5.

Teams that lose a game in the first two rounds will have to win three games over the course of the tournament to get into the loser-out, winner-to-state No. 2 seed match.

This story was originally published October 17, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Looking ahead to MCC-GSL soccer tournaments."