Sports Roundup: Playoff Time for Local Netters

With several local squads jockeying for playoff positions, girls tennis teams from , and have already crossed into the post-season as the calendar turned from September to October.

Girls Tennis

The Woodbury girls tennis team on Monday officially kicked off a month of playoff frenzy as the ninth-seeded Royals knocked off No. 8 St. Paul Harding in the opening round of the Section 4AA Tournament.

Woodbury remains on the road to take on No. 1 Stillwater on Wednesday.

East Ridge claimed the No. 6 seed for the sectional and opens its post-season against No. 11 North St. Paul on Tuesday. A win advances the Raptors to a second-round match at No. 3 Cretin-Derham Hall on Wednesday.

New Life Academy was handed the sixth seed for its Sectional 1A Tournament appearance, with a first-round playoff at third-seeded Lake City slated for Thursday.

East Ridge Boys Soccer

A four-game winning streak that included a 7-1 defeat of Tartan on Oct. 1 improved the East Ridge boys soccer team to 7-6-1 overall with two games remaining before the playoffs.

The Raptors held a 3-3-1 record in Suburban East Conference play heading into a Tuesday night game versus Cretin-Derham Hall at the Metrodome before closing out the regular season at home against intra-district rival Park on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Won Suk Chung leads the team with 17 goals, with Luke Featherstone topping the squad with eight assists to go with his seven goals.

East Ridge Girls Soccer

The eighth-ranked East Ridge girls soccer team rides a six-game winning streak into a Tuesday night game versus Cretin at the Metrodome as the Raptors take an 11-2 overall record into the final three games of its pre-sectional slate.

East Ridge sits two games off Woodbury's conference pace of 7-0, as a 5-2 Suburban East mark has the Raptors tied with White Bear Lake for second place in the circuit.

Individual statistics were not made available. The Raptors host Park on Thursday before capping the regular season at Hill-Murray in a non-conference battle on Saturday afternoon.

East Ridge Volleyball

Three wins and a loss earned the a third-place finish in the Cretin-Derham Hall Tournament on Oct. 1, before the Raptors won in five games at Minneapolis Southwest on Monday to improve to 10-10 on the season. Updated individual statistics were not made available.

New Life Football

A 78-yard touchdown run by Jordan Nieuwsma combined with a two-point conversion from Max Mattila was all the scoring the New Life football team could muster in a 30-8 loss at St. Anthony Village on Sept. 30.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 1-4 on the season with a road game versus St. Agnes at Concordia University's Seafoam Stadium in St. Paul this Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

New Life Boys Soccer

The New Life boys soccer team defeated West Lutheran 2-0 on Sept. 24 before closing out its regular season with a 3-1 loss at St. Croix Lutheran on Monday.

With a 5-7-2 overall record, 4-2-1 in the Minnesota Christian Athletic Association, the Eagles begin conference tournament play as the No. 4 seed on Thursday at top-seeded Southwest Christian. 

Raleigh Becker leads New Life with eight points on six goals and two assists, with Daniell Otto No. 2 on the team with five goals.

New Life Girls Soccer

Like the New Life boys, the Eagles girls soccer team, seeded third, also begins the MCAA Tournament with a game at No. 2 seed Southwest Christian on Thursday.

The Eagles lost 1-0 at Southwest on Sept. 29 before winning its regular-season conclusion, 3-1, versus St. Croix Lutheran to enter the post-season at 9-3-1 overall and 5-2 in the MCAA. Individual statistics were not made available.

New Life Volleyball

A 1-4 appearance in the Park of Cottage Grove Tournament dropped the New Life volleyball team to 13-7-1 overall.

The Eagles remain unbeaten in MCAA play at 3-0 heading into a Tuesday night conference game at Bethany Academy.

Ally Lamb leads New Life with 124 kills, as does Kara Stenerson with 226 assists.

Results for the Woodbury cross-country team's appearance in the Red Wing Invitational were not reported.