Grand Rapids, Hermantown boys make state soccer tourney after long droughts

The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks will play in the boys soccer state tournament Tuesday, Oct. 27, their first tourney appearance since 2005.

The Thunderhawks are one of four teams that will represent the rural Northland in the 2026 soccer state tournaments.

The Esko girls earned the top seed in their fifth-straight state tournament appearance. They finished third the last two years.

The Hermantown boys are also ending a long state tournament drought, having last qualified in 2015.

And the Clouquet girls are returning to the tourney after being upset by Hermantown last year in the section semifinals. They made five-straight state appearances before that.

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Esko (1A) will play No. 8 Cannon Falls at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Spring Lake Park High School.

Grand Rapids (2A) and Hermantown (1A) are the No. 6 seed, and Cloquet (2A) is the No. 8 seed. All three drew tough matchups against Twin Cities private schools in the first round.

The Lumberjacks play top-seeded Blake at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Forest Lake High School.

The Thunderhawks play Cretin-Derham Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Forest Lake High School.

And the Hawks play the Breck School at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at White Bear Lake Area High School.

All games can be streamed on NSPN with a subscription. Ticketing and other spectator information can be found in the MSHSL's guide.

There is no consolation bracket in the soccer state tournament.

The winners will advance to the semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the boys playing Wednesday, Nov. 4, and the girls playing Thursday, Nov. 5.

The third-place matches will be Thursday, Nov. 5, for the boys and Friday, Nov. 6, for the girls, both at the West St. Paul Regional Athletics Center.

The championship matches will be Saturday, Nov. 7, at U.S. Bank Stadium.

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