The Wooster High School (WHS) girls soccer team has had a memorable season while an injury-riddled WHS boys squad struggled. That was reflected in the team’s recent tournament draws, which were held at Brunswick High School.

The WHS girls, who were 11-1-2 at the time of the draw, emerged as the No. 4 seed in the 11-team Brunswick Division I Sectional/District. The boys, who struggled through a rash of midseason injuries, were 4-9-1 at the draw and 10th out of 12 teams. Their first-round opponent will be Barberton on Monday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.

“Barberton’s a new team,” said WHS boys coach Brian Hansen. “I don’t know a lick about them. I’ve looked them up and I know they were 8-2-4, but they aren’t playing anyone like Medina, Wadsworth or Copley.”

Should Wooster win that game, it will have the “awesome challenge” of playing at No. 1 seed Copley Oct. 20.

The Generals are coming off a 5-1 loss to Clear Fork to wrap up a sixth-place showing in the Ohio Cardinal Conference tournament and wrapped up their regular season with a game against Massillon Perry Oct. 15.

“We’re going to have a Saturday game to prepare for Barberton,” said Hansen. “Hopefully we’ll knock Barberton off and have that dream second season and knock some more people off. You never know. I have to give my kids credit for stepping up and playing and not quitting. They coulda packed it in a long time ago. We’ll see how we respond and see how we play Saturday and Monday.”

Girls coach Les Wudarzewski was pleased with his team’s draw.

“There are two things,” he said. “One, for a very long time our district was called the meat grinder for a very good reason. With the three to four top teams, you were competing before the second round. For us it is very good news when they redistricted and teams like Strongsville and North Royalton and Brecksville left the district to go to one side and left teams (in the other) that, in reality, are more like us.

“Even Medina doesn’t scare us. Now it comes down to one to two games and, wow, now you have a chance to win District. Before it was if you beat Copley, you had Strongsville in the next game. If you beat Strongsville, you had to beat Holy Name – it was a domino effect. Going to Districts you knew you had no chance. Now this looks really good.”

As a result, the Generals came home with something they haven’t had in a long time – a top-four seed.

“It has been a very, very long time since we were seeded,” he said. “The No. 4 seed is a success by itself. Having home field is an advantage in the first round. We wanted to play in the first round because we didn’t want to sit. All the way through Districts we have a legitimate chance to compete and possibly win.”

Wooster will open tournament play at home Oct. 18 against Akron Ellet. A win there would propel the Generals into a road game against Medina Highland Oct. 22. Looming after that is a potential showdown against either Copley or Brunswick in a District semifinal match.

“We’ve played Copley, Medina Highland and Brunswick before,” said Wudarzewski. “We had the best record (at the draw) … and for the first time we even had a first-place vote, which we had a laugh about. But, people are getting respect for Wooster soccer and it’s been a long time since that’s happened.”