Cleveland, Hawks are top seeds for state
La Cueva’s girls, ranked No. 1, are given a No. 8 seed in Class 5A bracket
Centennial’s girls and Cleveland’s boys on Sunday were awarded No. 1 seeds for the upcoming Class 5A state soccer tournament.
The nationally ranked Hawks (19-0), along with Sandia, Cleveland and Cibola, have first-round byes in the 5A girls playoff bracket.
The shock value was extreme for La Cueva coach Amber Ashcraft when she first saw the bracket Sunday afternoon.
The Bears (15-2-1), who have been ranked No. 1 in the state by MaxPreps.com for the last few weeks — and that poll is one of the criteria used for seeding teams — were seeded No. 8.
“I am extremely frustrated,” Ashcraft said. “It is a perfect slap in the face. What are we playing a regular season for?”
Examining the bracket, it was clear that La Cueva’s seed was a direct result of Eldorado’s résumé. The Eagles (12-6) were seeded seventh, and since they were the District 2 champion ahead of the Bears — on the basis on a one-goal tiebreaking differential in two head-to-head games — they had to be seeded above La Cueva, according to the bylaws of the New Mexico Activities Association.
But Eldorado’s overall résumé was not as strong as some other teams — most notably, No. 5 seed Volcano Vista and No. 6 Albuquerque High. Thus, the Eagles fell, and thus, La Cueva fell, too.
“I got penalized because Eldorado had six losses,” Ashcraft said. She said she had La Cueva projected as the No. 5 seed.
The Bears will play No. 9 Hobbs in the first round next week.
“This fires us up,” Ashcraft said.
“This is complete, 100 percent motivation. There’s no other way about it.”
And if they beat Hobbs, they’d face Centennial in the quarterfinals.
La Cueva, Volcano Vista (Carlsbad), AHS (Farmington) and Eldorado (Clovis) all have first-round home games next week. (The full list of matchups in all classes can be seen today on page B4.) District 1-5A, often considered the strongest league in the state, has three of the top five seeds.
Albuquerque Academy, the defending state champion in 5A, Hope Christian, St. Pius and Los Alamos were the top four seeds in Class 4A. The Huskies were last year’s 1A-4A state champs, but moved up into a larger class this season.
Sandia Prep has the No. 1 seed in Class 1A-3A, followed by Socorro, Bosque School and Hatch Valley.
BOYS: No. 2 Hobbs, No. 3 La Cueva and No. 4 AHS join Cleveland at the top of the 5A boys bracket.
The first-round games next week features a matchup of District 1-5A rivals, No. 10 Rio Rancho and No. 7 Volcano Vista.
No. 5 Clovis (Santa Fe), No. 6 Mayfield (Gadsden) and No. 8 Alamogordo (Atrisco Heritage) will be at home in the first round.
As expected, St. Pius has the No. 1 seed in Class 4A, with rival Albuquerque Academy at No. 2. Santa Teresa and Chaparral round out the top four.
Sandia Prep and its veteran coach Tommy Smith have the top seed in Class 1A-3A this season. Robertson, Monte Del Sol from Santa Fe and Hatch Valley are the other top-four seeds.
First-round games are Friday and Saturday, with schools expected to announce times and days today. Then everyone comes to the complex on the Santa Ana Pueblo for the second week of the playoffs, Nov. 7-9.