By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
After the grind of the regular season and the rush to finish it, the reward is here – state playoffs begin today with one local girls high school soccer team in action, and a dozen more playing in the next few days.
When the final LHSAA brackets came out Tuesday morning, Shreveport-Bossier stood tall, with 13 teams seeded in the tournament, including six top 10 ranked teams across the four divisions, topped by No. 1-ranked Loyola (17-5-3) in Division IV.
Two locals collide in the opening round: Calvary, seeded fifth in Division IV, hosts No. 28 Evangel Friday evening.
Here’s a rundown of all local playoff pairings, which begin today with Airline headed to south Louisiana.
Division I
Second-seeded Byrd will host No. 31 Acadiana on campus at Byrd Friday at 5:30. If the Lady Jackets advance as expected, they will face the winner of Dutchtown (15th-seeded) and Dominican (18) in Round 2.
Earning the highest seeding the school has ever had, No. 3 Benton will meet No. 30 Woodlawn (Baton Rouge). on Friday at 5 at Airline High School. If the Lady Tigers prevail, they will face the winner of West Monroe (14) and Ponchatoula (19).
Eighth-seeded Captain Shreve will host No. 25 Destrehan on Saturday at 2:30 at Caddo Field. Next up for the Lady Gators, if they win, will be No. 9 Fontainebleau or No. 24 Sulphur.
No. 28 Airline is traveling today down to No. 5 Hahnville for a 3 o’clock kickoff. If the Vikings can pull the upset, they will face ether No. 12 Northshore or No. 21 East Ascension.
Division II
North DeSoto (seeded 10th) will host No. 23 Pineville on Friday at 6. Winning would mean a second-round matchup against the Lutcher (7) vs. West Feliciana (26) winner.
No. 12 Caddo Magnet hosts Archbishop Chapelle (21). No playing date has been set, but it must be staged by Sunday. If the Lady Mustangs prevail, they would face either No. 5 Central LaFourche or upset-minded Beau Chene (28) in the next round.
The 22nd seeded Parkway Lady Panthers will travel to No. 11 New Iberia Senior High School Thursday for a 4:30 contest. If they get the upset, they will face the winner of Northwood and Ben Franklin.
Northwood (27th) travels to No. 6 Ben Franklin with day and time TBD. If they win that game the Lady Falcons face New Iberia or Parkway.
Division III
The only local Division III team is No. 27 Bossier. The Lady Bearkats travel to Vandebilt Catholic for their Round 1 game, which has yet to be scheduled.
Division IV
Top seeded Loyola has received a bye in the first round, the only bye in the entire state tournament slate. The Lady Flyers will face the winner of No. 16 Ascension Episcopal and No. 17 Ouachita Christian, hosting a second-round game.
The Calvary-Evangel game is scheduled for Friday at 5:30 at Calvary. These district rivals met Jan. 14 and the Lady Cavaliers won 7-0. The winner will face either Pope John Paul II (12) and Holy Savior Menard (21) in Round 2.
No. 29 North Caddo will travel to No. 4 St Charles later this week for a first-round game, it has not yet been scheduled. If the Lady Titans are able to get the upset, they will face the winner of St. Frederick (13) vs. No. 20 Thomas Jefferson (20).
Rainy weather could scramble schedules, so if your team is postponed, keep an eye on the brackets on the LHSAA.org website.
Final SBJ Coaches Poll
The bracket release followed a final week of the season featuring many matchups between top local teams. These results tracked with last week’s Shreveport-Bossier Journal Girls Soccer Coaches Poll, resulting in no changes in the final 2025 SBJ rankings.
Byrd kept the top spot it occupied most of the season, fueled by a 2-1 victory over Loyola. Benton held onto second despite a 1-1 tie with Captain Shreve. Loyola topped North DeSoto 3-1 before falling to Byrd, and held onto third barely over Shreve, which topped Calvary 3-1 along with its tie with Benton.
North DeSoto held its fifth-place spot with its good showing against Loyola and beating Airline 1-0. Calvary stayed ahead of Caddo Magnet, going 3-1 over the week, winning big over Ouachita Christian 8-0, Minden 5-0 and North Caddo 9-0, along with the loss to Shreve. Magnet went 2-0 with wins over Airline 1-0 and Northwood 2-0.
Final Shreveport-Bossier Journal Girls Soccer Coaches Poll
Rank Team (1st) Record Pts Last week
1 Byrd (8) 17-3-5 62 1
2 Benton (1) 18-3-3 52 2
3 Loyola ` 17-5-3 43 3
4 Captain Shreve 17-5-4 41 4
5 North DeSoto 12-7-4 22 5
6 Calvary 11-4-3 19 6
7 Caddo Magnet 9-4-3 11 7
Also receiving votes — Airline (2)
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net