By Nick Rubek – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
Gauntlets for gold await all four defending champions at this week’s Nebraska state soccer tournament.
Each of the four returning winners – Omaha Westside (Class A boys), Schuyler (Class B boys), Lincoln Southwest (Class A girls) and Gretna East (Class B girls) – is back for more during the eight-day event at Creighton University’s Morrison Stadium.
But only one – Lincoln Southwest – will be the top seed in its respective bracket. The Silver Hawks, aiming for a third consecutive title, are unbeaten and riding a win streak of 28 matches. They’ve won eight of their last nine matches at state, reaching the final each of the last three seasons.
Southwest will be in the tourney opener on Monday, May 11, the kick off to a spring sports title run.
Up to date championship information will be delivered via the NSAA Soccer Championship HQ page.
All-Class State Tournament Bracket
CLASS A BOYS: Papio South aims for first title
Being the top-ranked team in the state is all fine and well for Dave Lawrence.
But the Papillion-La Vista South head coach wants more.
His Class A No. 1 Titans go into the state soccer tournament at Morrison Stadium not just happy to be there anymore.
“Most years our goal is to make it,” Lawrence said. “Our goal this year has been to win state.”
A fifth straight tournament appearance comes with an upping of the ante after the Titans (16-2) won the Metro Conference tournament in mid-April. They’ll be the top seed on the boys side and open against Lincoln East on Tuesday at noon.
A strong campaign hasn’t come as a surprise to Lawrence. With 19 seniors on the roster, Papio South had bigger things in mind.
“We knew we had the right pieces in place,” Lawrence said, “but it’s worked out even better than we could have even expected.”
He points to his team’s consistency as a major reason why.
“These guys don’t panic,” Lawrence said.
Senior midfielder Morgan Macke has racked up 20 goals and fellow senior Kailer Fry has dished out 17 assists. Both are the top tallies in Class A.
The Titans are looking to reach another level, though. Despite three state semifinal appearances – including back-to-back in 2023 and 2024 – the program is still seeking its first finals berth.
Getting there would mean getting by a game Lincoln East team – all six of the Spartans’ losses have come to fellow state tournament qualifiers – and then a semifinal against either Elkhorn South or Lincoln Southwest.
The last two state champions square off in an opening-round game on the other side of the bracket, with defending champion Omaha Westside taking on Omaha Creighton Prep, the state’s winningest program.
Westside won 2-1 when the teams met in last year’s semifinal round. Prep returned the favor with a 2-0 win in early April, part of an impressive regular season that featured wins over five of the other seven state qualifiers.
The Westside-Prep winner would take on either Lincoln Southeast or Omaha South in the semifinals.
OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH: Elias Hernandez, Papillion-La Vista South (11 goals, 9 assists), Caden Carpenter, Lincoln East (11 goals), Lake Keiper, Elkhorn South (10 goals, 5 assists), Brentyn Ebeler, Lincoln Southwest (8 shutouts), Dylan Holden, Omaha South (18 goals, 8 assists), Tim Dowd, Omaha Creighton Prep (12 goals, 12 assists), Miles Oksman, Omaha Westside (13 goals, 6 assists)
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (TUESDAY): At Morrison Stadium | Papillion-La Vista South (16-2) vs Lincoln East (10-6), 12:00 p.m.; Lincoln Southwest (12-3) vs Elkhorn South (12-4), 2:00 p.m.; Omaha Creighton Prep (15-3) vs Omaha Westside (11-5), 5:30 p.m.; Lincoln Southeast (13-2) vs Omaha South (12-5), 7:30 p.m.
CLASS B BOYS: Dragons back to breathing fire
The rest of the state may need to get used to the name on Nate Thiellen’s kit. Both the front and the back. The freshman forward has a team-leading 26 goals on the season – tied for second most in the state – to lead Class B No. 1 Gretna into the state tournament again.
After missing out on the postseason last year, ending a string of seven straight appearances, the Dragons are back with one thing on their minds – getting back to the top “Definitely lit a fire under us,” first-year coach John Cover said. Gretna played in the Class A final in back-to-back seasons, winning it all in historic fashion in 2022 before falling to Creighton Prep in the title match a year later. A first-round exit in 2024 halted a streak of five straight semifinal berths.
The Dragons moved back to Class B last season, falling one result short of getting back to state after a loss to eventual champion Schuyler in the District Final round. Enter the rookie head coach and his star scorer.
Cover, a Gretna alum, was an assistant for four years before taking over the helm. Thiellen, meanwhile, has been on the radar just as long.
“He’s goal hungry,” Cover said. “Just has a desire that you don’t see every day.”
Cover described Thiellen’s ability to find the back of the net as “special.”
“The way that he would score goals,” he recalls of watching Thiellen at the youth level, “you would shake your head sometimes at how he was doing it.”
The Dragons will open against Lincoln Pius X (7-6) on Thursday at noon. Get a win there and a semifinal against either Omaha Roncalli or Elkhorn North would await.
The other side of the bracket has plenty of state tournament history, too.
An opener between Schuyler and Omaha Skutt features the last six state titles. Schuyler won it all a year ago – the program’s first championship – to bring an end to Skutt’s reign. The SkyHawks had won the previous five Class B crowns.
Bennington and Lexington, which square off in the other opening-round match at 7:30 p.m., are each seeking their first championship, although both have been close on a number of occasions recently.
Bennington played in the final in 2023 and 2025, while Lexington was in the title match in 2021, 2022, and 2024.
OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH: Elijah Fulton, Gretna (16 goals, 15 assists); Caedmon Meduna, Lincoln Pius X (11 shutouts); Will Preston, Omaha Roncalli (26 goals, 4 assists); Zach Keenan, Elkhorn North (13 goals, 2 assists); David Arciga, Schuyler (24 goals, 11 assists); Pierce Havens, Omaha Skutt (12 goals, 3 assists); Kade Olbrich, Bennington (26 goals, 9 assists); Jose Navarrete-Escobedo (13 goals, 2 assists)
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (THURSDAY). At Morrison Stadium | Gretna (14-1) vs Lincoln Pius X (7-6), 12:00 PM; Omaha Roncalli (15-3) vs Elkhorn North (13-3), 2:00 PM; Schuyler (18-1) vs Omaha Skutt (8-8), 5:30 PM; Bennington (13-3) vs Lexington (13-5), 7:30 PM on KAMI Country and krvn.com.
CLASS A GIRLS: Silverhawks have eyes on third straight
Already featuring the state’s new goal scoring queen, Lincoln Southwest is now three wins from joining Nebraska soccer royalty.
The top-ranked Silver Hawks – Class A’s two-time defending champions – roll into a state tournament opener Monday at Morrison Stadium riding a 28-match winning streak and buoyed by a record-breaking scorer.
Junior forward Ansley Throener is the new owner of the state’s single-season scoring mark – 57 and counting. The Nebraska commit has found the back of the net at least twice in 13 of Southwest’s 16 matches this season. She has ten outings with a hat trick, and in half of those Throener has netted five goals or more.
“She’s unbelievably talented at getting into good areas,” Silver Hawk coach Thomas Nettleton said. “And she took it upon herself to make sure that improvement wasn’t a possibility, that it was a certainty.”
Throener has found another gear down the stretch. In her last seven matches, she’s racked up 35 goals. Included in total is an eight-goal effort against Lincoln North Star, tying the Class A record for a single match. Throener already has 11 in a pair of postseason wins for Southwest.
It’s hardly been a one-person show, though.
Peyton Held has a school-record – and state-leading – 28 assists. Emma Sheets and Ainsley Roeder have anchored a Silver Hawk defense that has allowed just two goals all season, with keeper Tanyn Anderson notching 14 shutouts.
All of those pieces are sure to get tested at the state tournament, where Southwest will look to become the fourth program in state history to win three straight titles. The Silver Hawks are 8-1 in tournament openers since 2015.
Among the challengers to the throne are a few familiar faces in conference cohorts Kearney, Lincoln Southeast, and Lincoln East. The latter of the trio is on the other side of Southwest’s opening round match on Monday at noon.
And then there’s the Metro muscle.
The other half of the qualifiers come from the Omaha area – a group led by Bellevue West, now the Metro Conference tournament’s back-to-back champions. An opening-round victory last year was the first win at state in program history for the Thunderbirds.
Also in the mix again is Omaha Marian, the state’s winningest program. The Crusaders, making their 18th straight appearance at the state tournament, are looking for their first championship since 2017. That title was title No. 14 for Marian. No other Class A team in the state has more than seven.
OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH: Tea Tweten, Lincoln Southwest (10 goals, 17 assists); Elizabeth Burhoop, Lincoln East (17 goals, 11 assists); Yirah Sears, Bellevue West (39 goals, 24 assists); Gabby Wagenfuhr, Elkhorn South (22 goals, 8 assists); Reese Holscher, Kearney (24 goals, 15 assists), Kathryn McLaughlin, Millard South (17 goals, 7 assists); Cooper Dally, Omaha Marian (10 goals, 15 assists); Emily Drummond, Lincoln Southeast (18 goals, 12 assists).
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (MONDAY). At Morrison Stadium | Lincoln Southwest (16-0) vs. Lincoln East (9-7), 12:00 PM; Bellevue West (15-2) vs Elkhorn South (15-3), 2:00 p.m.; Kearney (16-2) vs. Millard South (10-6), 5:30 PM; Omaha Marian (14-3) vs. Lincoln Southeast (12-3), 7:30 PM.
CLASS B GIRLS: Field, unbeaten Bears loaded for title run
Now armed with experience and Class B’s top scorer, Blair is loaded for bear.
A run to last year’s state semifinals may have been ahead of schedule, but second-ranked Blair – the lone unbeaten team in the Class B girls tournament – is right on time this season.
Behind 30 goals and 20 assists from star forward Cadence Field, the Bears have sights set on a state title.
“I think we were kind of wide-eyed in our first game last year,” Blair coach Nick Hall said.
Understandable for a program that hadn’t been to state in over 20 years.
But a 1-0 win in the opening round over Omaha Skutt put Field and company into a semifinal showdown with a record-breaking Gretna East side. Almost immediately after losing 5-1 to the eventual champs, talk from Hall turned to this season.
“We didn’t exactly light the scoreboard up like we can and have been,” Hall said of the combined two goals at state last year. “I think we want to do what we do best when we get there this time.”
Field “drives a lot of that” according to her coach.
She’s found the back of the net in 14 of Blair’s 16 matches. Included in that are five hat tricks.
“Her speed is unmatched,” Hall said. “She’s faster with the ball than most girls are without the ball.”
The Bears will open its state ledger against that same Gretna East side that ended things in 2025. Blair won both regular-season meetings between the two – a 4-0 victory, then a 3-2 shootout win in the Eastern Midlands Conference tournament a week later.
Omaha Skutt and Norris meet in the other opener on the same side of the bracket. The two squared off for the Class B crown three straight times between 2021 and 2023, with Skutt winning all three to push their program total to ten titles. The SkyHawks are in the state tournament for the 29th straight season.
Top-ranked Lincoln Pius X (14-1) will meet Columbus Scotus on the other side of the bracket. The lone Pius loss came in the season-opener to two-time defending Class A champion Lincoln Southwest. The Thunderbolts have outscored opponents 38-3 the rest of the way, a tally that includes 11 shutouts.
Scotus knocked off previously unbeaten Kearney Catholic 3-0 in the District B-3 final to punch its ticket. Kearney Catholic received the lone wild card, and will open against fourth-ranked Elkhorn.
OTHER PLAYERS TO WATCH: Emily Krings, Lincoln Pius X (8 goals, 4 assists), Tanner Schultz, Columbus Scotus (21 goals, 10 assists), Molly Flynn, Elkhorn (15 goals, 8 assists), Kaelin Key, Kearney Catholic (17 goals, 4 assists), Laynie Brown, Blair (17 goals, 7 assists), Izzy Shelburne, Gretna East (6 goals, 4 assists), Nyah Huck, Omaha Skutt (11 goals, 3 assists), Ize Tidball, Norris (11 goals, 9 assists)
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (WEDNESDAY). At Morrison Stadium | Lincoln Pius X (14-1) vs Columbus Scotus (10-6), 12:00 PM; Elkhorn (13-3) vs Kearney Catholic (16-1), 2:00 PM; Blair (15-0) vs Gretna East (10-6), 5:30 PM; Omaha Skutt (12-2) vs Norris (13-3), 7:30 PM.
Nick Rubek is a freelance writer based in Omaha. He was the long-time beat writer for prep wrestling and soccer for the Omaha World-Herald. He is now a contributor for the Harvest Sports Newsletter.
Editor Tony Chapman is a freelance writer based in Grand Island. He has written for multiple Nebraska daily and weekly newspapers. His weekly Harvest Sports Newsletter covers a wide variety of Nebraska prep sports.
