On Wednesday the AIA announced the 3A Soccer playoff matchups. 3A is the smallest conference in boys and girls soccer and both Safford and Thatcher compete there. Like many other winter sports, soccer takes 16 teams to the state tournament with seed #9-24 having to play in to join the top 8 seeds who have a bye.
The Thatcher boys soccer squad finished the season 12-5-2 under Head Coach Isaac Rogers. That was good enough for 3rd in the 3A Central behind ALA-Queen Creek and Coolidge. The Eagles will be seeding 18th in the 24 team tournament and will head to Wickenburg on January 31st for a 6pm game. The Wranglers are the #15 seed and finished the season 9-2-1. They finished #2 in the 3A Northwest.
The Safford girls soccer team will host a play in game on January 31st at 6pm. The 14th seeded Lady Bulldogs will take on #19 Phoenix Country Day School. Safford finished the season with a 15-4-1 record under Head Coach EJ Romero. The Bulldogs finished 4th in the 3A South behind Sahuarita, Sabino and Pusch Ridge. PCDS is 8-7-1 on the season and finished 3rd in the 3A Metro West.
The winners of these two games will move on into the 16 team State Tournament bracket. The teams will be re-seeded based on who wins the play in games.
