This year's state soccer tournament made news before it even started.
With the disqualification of West Fargo Sheyenne on Monday, the tournament field was altered less than 72 hours before it was scheduled to start. Legacy and Bismarck High were directly affected by the change.
"As far as what happened (with Sheyenne), as a coach, you feel sorry for the players who were expecting to go to state then find out they can't," Legacy head coach Tom Marcis said. "If it were me, I'd hate to see that happen to our players if it were to happen to us."
West Fargo Sheyenne, having been the East's No. 2 seed, have been replaced in the No. 2 spot by West Fargo, who will now take on Bismarck High.
Sheyenne's disqualification shifted Legacy from a matchup against the East's previous No. 3 seed, West Fargo, into a matchup against the new No. 3 seed, Fargo Shanley.
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"As far as the team goes, whoever our opponent is, is who we have to get ready for," Marcis said. "It's not really our concern who we play, other than making sure we're ready to go. Shanley plays a similar formation to us, but their style is a little different."
The shift from West Fargo to Fargo Shanley moves Legacy from a rematch of its season opener, a game the Sabers won 3-0 over the Packers, to a fresh matchup against the Deacons.
Despite the lack of knowledge from any of the teams in the Bismarck-Mandan area as to what Shanley can do, Marcis isn't too worried about getting ready for his team's first opponent.
"These days, there's film available on every team in the state," he said. "It's a bit of a quicker turnaround since our opponent changed, but there's plenty of film out there on Shanley and what their tendencies are, and there's plenty of film out there on us for teams from the East to figure out our strengths and weaknesses."
Legacy found themselves in the No. 2 seed in the West after taking consecutive losses to Minot, first in the regular season finale that gave the Magicians the regular season West Region title, then in the West Region championship game last Saturday.
If Legacy finds themselves playing Minot again at some point this season, which would in theory be either a third-place or championship game as they are on opposite sides of the bracket, Marcis is aware of what his team will need to do to try and beat the Magicians next time around.
"(All three) games we had against Minot were tight games," he said. "We played well in a lot of ways, but we learned the importance of staying within our game plan and sticking with counters. After an offensive charge down the field, we have to be on top of them defensively."
Offensively, the Sabers are led in goals by junior Ben McDonald (nine goals, two assists) and sophomore Kamden Kooiman (nine goals, seven assists). Senior defender Jacob Lelm (six goals, 10 assists) tying Kooiman for the team lead in points.
Despite only Lelm and Benji Rodriguez (four goals, one assist) being seniors on this year's team, Marcis is confident of his team's ability as they prepare for the Deacons.
"It's important we play our game, (because if we do), we have a good chance of being able to control the game against Shanley," he said. "It's nice that we're a two seed so we're not immediately playing a top seed. The boys don't have a lot of state experience, so getting more is good.
"This team is more diverse and more experienced than the other two Legacy teams that have made state in the past. We're able to rely on several players instead of just one or two, scoring-wise. I've got no reason to believe they shouldn't be able to handle the trip to state."
Joining Minot and Legacy from the West Region are Century and Bismarck, who beat Jamestown (2-1) and Mandan (3-2 in a shootout), respectively, in last Saturday's state qualifying games.
Century and Bismarck have advanced to state every year since 1995.
With tournament legacy teams everywhere on the bracket, it's not going to be an easy run for anybody wanting to win this year's state title.
"The East always fields strong teams," Marcis said. "They play a more physical style than we do in the West. We have to play a strong game without committing silly fouls."
As the No. 4 team out of the West, Century will face unbeaten Fargo Davies in the quarterfinal.
Minot will take on East No. 4 seed Grand Forks Red River.
Now it comes down to playing the best three games of their season consecutively. Marcis thinks his team is ready.
"We're as healthy as we can be after the West Region tournament," he said. "We're as healthy as a team can be at the end of a season, even with the game against Minot being physical."