Rails Draw #1 Seed in State Soccer Tournament

Oct 24

Wes Vork-NSO

Just days after celebrating the Section 7a Championship and earning a trip to the state tournament, the Proctor boys soccer team learned the first stop on that trip will be #1 seed unbeaten Prairie Seeds Academy. PSA is a charter school in Brooklyn Park with a 9-12 enrollment of 121 and a total k-12 enrollment of 740. Although there are expansion plans, boys soccer is currently its only high school sport.

Nonetheless, in only its second year in existence the PSA boys soccer program sports an unbeaten 17-0-1 record coming into the tournament, with its only blemish being a 1-1 tie with Eagan. In order to play for the PSA soccer program, student athletes must maintain a 3.5 GPA.

The Lycans are coached by Youssef Darbaki, a former professional soccer player from Morocco. Darbaki has played for Morocco, Spain, Portugal as well as the United States; he also represented Morocco in the 1982 world cup. Darbki has also coached at most every level in Minnesota including many premier league and select teams, most recently as the associate coach for the University of St. Thomas from 1994-2008.

The soccer team sports several D1 type talented players including senior midfielder Issac Kanneh who has committed to Northern Illinois University and Gerald Ben, an attacker who registered 26 goals and 9 assists in the regular season for the Lycans. PSA has scored 114 goals and given up 11 on the year.

PSA was awarded the #1 seed, Mounds Park Academy the #2 seed, with Mankato East and Rochester Lourdes the #3 and #4 seeds respectively. Proctor, St Cloud Cathedral, Orono and St Paul Academy were placed in a random draw where the Rails drew #1 seed PSA. Please check our playoff brackets link on the right side of the NSO home page for the complete listing of matchups.

Proctor comes into the tournament sporting an impressive 15-5-1 record including nine shutouts, scoring 60 goals while giving up only 16.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com