Been there, done that, steady Saints seek trip to quarterfinals

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, February 11, 2026

The St. Louis Catholic girls soccer team has been a model of consistency.

The Saints will play their 21st consecutive regional playoff game today, and a win would send them to the quarterfinals for a 12th consecutive season.

“St. Louis soccer has always been a strong force, especially in the playoffs,” Saints head coach Kyra Williams said. “The girls are able to take what they have learned over the season and build on it in the playoffs.”

No. 8 St. Louis (13-8-3) hosts No. 9 David Thibodaux (14-5-1) at 5:30 p.m. today at McNeese State’s Cowgirl Field in the Division III regional playoffs.

St. Louis beat No. 25 DeRidder 8-0 in the bi-district round, with goals from seven players, something Williams said would benefit the Saints in the regional round. The Bulldogs blanked No. 24 Kaplan 5-0 in their opener.

“I think we saw different looks at the goal. We got a lot of players on the field in different positions,” Williams said. “Going into the David Thibodaux game, it will help us.”

Last year they beat Sterlington 8-0 in the regional round and haven’t lost a home regional game since 2003. Williams said she expects a physical game.

“With most playoff games, we are expecting a physical game,” Williams said. “Both sides will try to get dangerous opportunities on goal.

“We have to deal with speed and players with good ball-handling skills.”

While the Saints will be at home, and the third-ranked St. Louis boys team hosted Livingston Collegiate late Tuesday evening in the regional playoffs, Barbe’s boys and girls teams will be on the road.

The Barbe girls (16-5-4), seeded 11th in Division I, travel to Mandeville for a rematch with the sixth-ranked Skippers (24-5-2) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The Bucs lost on Dec. 13 at the St. Michael the Archangel tournament on a penalty kick in the last minute after a foul in the box.

“It was a great back-and-forth game,” Barbe girls coach Kassidy Guillory said. “We were missing a couple of players.

“We have grown from that game. That was one of the games where we watched one of our players go down with a season-ending injury. It brought us together stronger as a team. We have seen them before, so we kind of know what to expect. We are going to try to not give anything up in the box.”

The last time the teams met in the postseason, Barbe won on penalty kicks in the regional round in 2016 and advanced to the semifinals as a No. 10 seed. The Bucs battled back from a 2-0 halftime deficit, and both teams scored a goal in overtime.

Last season, the Barbe boys won their first playoff game since 2017. This time, they look to take it a step further. No. 14 Barbe (15-7-4) will travel to play No. 3 Denham Springs (18-2-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday in search of its first regional win in more than two decades. Last year, they lost to powerhouse St. Paul’s 3-1 in the regionals.

The Bucs have the added benefit that they are familiar with the Yellow Jackets. The teams met on Dec. 20 at the Beau Chene tournament and played to a scoreless tie.

“They were really good,” Barbe boys soccer head coach Todd Hoffpauir said. “I think we’re ready to compete.

“It’s all about the boys’ mind-set when they step off the bus ready for that game. We’re just going to have to take our opportunities and press when we can, play intelligent defensively, and just try to, when we have our opportunities, to put them away, especially on like corner kicks and other set pieces.”

The Bucs have scored 68 goals in 26 games, led by juniors Kenneth Sanchez (24) and L.T. Pruitt (18).