Padua leads three Catholic high schools into the DIAA state field hockey tournaments, which begin Oct. 29 with Division II first-round action.
The Pandas are the third seed in Division I, and thanks to expected heavy rain, have already had their quarterfinal matchup moved to Saturday from Thursday. The Pandas will meet No. 6 Milford on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Tower Hill School.
Padua finished the season 11-3-1, with wins over fifth-seeded Odessa and several Division II tournament teams. All three of their losses came against Division II tournament teams.
Should they advance, Padua would meet the winner of No. 7 Polytech and No. 2 Cape Henlopen on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. at Rullo Stadium at the University of Delaware in the semifinals.
Archmere is the fourth seed in Division II. The Auks went 10-5, with all of their losses coming to teams seeded ahead of them, including both No. 1 seeds Smyrna (Division I) and Wilmington Friends (Division II). The Auks have a first-round bye and will meet the winner of No. 12 Tatnall and No. 5 Ursuline on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at home. Archmere defeated the Hornets in the last game of the regular season, but they did not play Ursuline.
The Raiders earned the fifth seed after an 11-4 season in which they started 2-4. Three of those losses came to teams in the state tournament. They split with Padua this season and also defeated Odessa, the fourth seed in Division I.
They will host Tatnall at Serviam Field on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
The Division II semifinals will be held Nov. 2 at Rullo Stadium at noon and 2 p.m., and Division I is Nov. 3 at 4 and 6 p.m. The championship games are scheduled for Nov. 7 at Rullo at times to be determined.
Tickets for all games through the quarterfinals are available only at www.gofan.co/app/school/DIAA. For the semifinals and championship, the website is www.bluehens.com. For spectator policies and more information, go to education.delaware.gov/diaa.
