Saint Mark’s soccer leads the Catholic schools into the DIAA soccer and field hockey tournaments, whose brackets were released Nov. 5. The Spartans are the top seed in the 12-team Division II field and have earned a first-round bye.
Saint Mark’s finished the season at 13-2, with losses to Division I powerhouses Salesianum and Charter School of Wilmington. They opened the season with an eight-game winning streak. They have defeated fellow Division II tournament teams Delaware Military Academy, Brandywine, Archmere, Newark Charter and McKean, as well as Division I participant Delcastle.
The Spartans will host the winner of No. 9 Newark Charter at No. 8 Brandywine on Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. The team is seeking the school’s 12th state championship and first since 2001.
Joining them in the Division II field is Archmere, who enters as the seventh seed. The Auks, Division II champions two seasons ago, finished the season at 10-5, although they have won seven of their last eight after starting the season 3-4. They have played a challenging schedule that includes Division I contenders Wilmington Charter and Salesianum.
Archmere opens play at Abessinio Stadium in Wilmington on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. against Sussex Academy, the 10th seed. The winner will visit No. 2 Caravel on Nov. 13 at 5 p.m.
Salesianum will be looking to regain its state championship in the Division I field. The Sals are seeded third in the eight-team field. The finished the season 11-4, but they did not lose to any Delaware opponents.
Sallies, which lost last year’s final in penalty kicks to Appoquinimink, will begin play on Nov. 10 at Abessinio Stadium against the sixth seed, Delcastle. The winner of that match advances to meet the winner of No. 7 Appo at No. 2 Wilmington Charter on either Nov. 16 or 17 at a site and time to be determined.
The soccer championships will be played Nov. 20 at Dover High School. The times have not been released.
Three Catholic schools are competing for the two DIAA field hockey state championships. In Division I, Padua earned the seventh seed out of the eight teams. They will visit Wilmington Charter on Nov. 11 at 2 p.m., with the winner moving on to play either No. 6 Appoquinimink or No. 3 Smyrna on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at DE Turf in Frederica.
The Pandas finished the regular season 7-7-1, with all seven defeats coming to teams in either the Division I or Division II tournament. They played Wilmington Charter on Oct. 4, falling, 3-2. Padua has played the top seed from both divisions, Cape Henlopen and Delmar.
In Division II, Archmere is the second seed after putting together a 12-3 season. The Auks won the Diamond State Athletic Conference with season-ending wins over both Newark Charter and Wilmington Charter, both of whom are playing in the postseason. Two of their losses came to Division I tournament teams, and the other was to Caravel, which is in the Division II field.
Archmere received a first-round bye and will host the winner of Saint Mark’s at Lake Forest. The Auks defeated Saint Mark’s, 2-0, in September. The Auks’ tournament opener will take place on Nov. 13 at 11 a.m.
The Spartans are the 10th seed in Division II with a record of 9-5-1. Four of those defeats came at the hands of tournament teams. As mentioned, they will travel to the seventh seed, Lake Forest, on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. The winner will visit Archmere.
The field hockey state championships will be held Nov. 20 at Dover High School. The Division I final is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., with Division II following at 3 p.m. In Division I, Cape Henlopen has won all four Division I and Delmar all four Division II titles since the sport went to two divisions in 2017. Delmar won the last one-division final, in 2016, and Cape took five straight before that.
All tickets must be purchased in advance at https://gofan.co/app/school/DIAA. None will be sold at the gate. For complete brackets and other tournament information, go to https://education.delaware.gov/diaa/sport_championships/fall_sports/.
