Faribault boys soccer No. 1 seed as section playoffs are set to begin

Faribault boys soccer will take the field on Friday as the No. 1 overall seed in the Section 1AA playoffs. The Falcons are set to face the winner of Byron and Winona who are set to play Tuesday evening in the quarterfinals of the seven team bracket.

The winner of Friday’s game will head to the section championship next Tuesday at Janesville Waldorf Pemberton Stadium. Friday’s clash is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. in Faribault.

Across the bracket Northfield is a favorite to advance to the championship game as the No. 2 overall seed. The Raiders set to face Waseca on Tuesday evening. At the bottom of that side of the bracket are Austin and Kasson-Mantorville who will play Tuesday night as well.

The semifinals for that side of the bracket are scheduled for Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the higher seeded team’s home field.

It has been a strange season for a Falcons team that is talented and experienced but has also racked up an astounding eight draws over the course of the season. For all the near wins, Faribault has only lost three times over the course of the 16 game season. Three of the Falcons’ draws have come in games Faribault has scored at least two goals only adding the a feeling of being tantalizing close to something better.

Fittingly, all of Faribault’s potential opponents in the bracket — aside from Waseca who the Falcons have not faced this year — have drawn against Faribault. A 3-3 tie in the second game of the season against Byron and a 1-1 draw against Winona at the midway point of the year. Across the bracket Faribault drew against Northfield and Austin while opening the season with a 0-0 tie against Kasson-Mantorville as well.

But as head coach Brendan Cox knows, it’s not about where you are in the middle of the season that matters but where you are at the end.

“As a coach, it’s a lot easier to understand that,” Cox said earlier this year. “For the boys, they’re chasing immediate results that they want to see. So the individual results of games really kind of are big to them. But you know, it’s just a matter of communicating with them and making sure that we are getting better as we get closer to the win or go home season.”

The good news for Faribault? The Falcons head into the postseason coming off a road victory over Rochester Century, one of Faribault’s biggest wins of the year.