St. Mary’s (12-1), 3A Region 8 champion, hopes to climb higher in the state girls’ soccer playoffs. Runners-up the past two seasons, the Pirates (12-1) have taken a step in the right direction, garnering the top seed.

“We’re excited,” said coach Gregg Braha. “You hate to have the big bull’s-eye on your back. You feel like you‘re calling attention to yourself, but we feel we’ve earned that seed.”

The Classical Academy (13-1-1) is seeded third and Manitou Springs sixth.

Other qualifiers are No. 17 ECA (10-3-1), No. 19 Colorado Springs Christian (8-6) and No. 28 Fountain Valley (6-9).

Pine Creek, 5A Colorado Springs Metro League champion, put the only blemish on No. 1 seed Chatfield’s 14-0-1 record and also tied No. 3 Arapahoe, efforts which helped the Eagles gain a No. 6 seed.

“We’ve proven ourselves good enough to be up there,” said coach John Frederick. “You always hope for better, but we’re glad we didn’t fall further.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a No. 1 or a No. 32. It all depends on which team shows up to play,” said Air Academy coach Nancy Sibley. The Kadets drew the No. 10 seed.

“That was our hope,” she said. “We wanted to be in the top 10.”

Also qualifying are No. 19 Doherty (8-5-2), No. 26 Palmer (8-7) and No. 28 Rampart (6-6-2).

At the 4A level, Metro co-champions Lewis-Palmer (13-1-1) and Cheyenne Mountain (13-1-1), are seeded No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

“We’re pretty excited,” said Rangers coach Ian Wale. “I think we have the best squad in the state.”

“When you get a top four seed it means three home games, so we’re pretty excited,” said Cheyenne Mountain coach Scott Johnson.

Mitchell (7-6) is seeded No. 24 and Woodland Park (4-8-2) is No. 27.

Teams seeded in the top 16 will host first round games in each classification.