Sartell-St. Stephen at St. Cloud Tech
7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 30

Sartell-St. Stephen and St. Cloud Tech qualified for the state tournament in their respective classes last year, but this matchup is about the regular season. They kickoff their Central Lakes Conference schedules Tuesday at St. Cloud State's Husky Stadium looking to settle a scoreless tie from late last season.

The Sabers suffered a 3-0 loss to the Tigers in the second game last fall but bounce backed to win all but one of their remaining league contests en route to an 8-2-2 conference mark.

Ccoach Matt Hager has developed Sartell-St. Stephen into a winning program, bringing the Sabers to the Class 1A state tournament three times in the past five years. Last year’s trip ended after a 3-1 loss to Breck in the quarterfinals.

Sartell-St. Stephen graduated two double-digit scorers, but senior Travis Forst (8-11-27) returns as the team's top playmaker and is one of 10 players with varsity experience on the roster.

Tech lost five seniors from last year’s team that won the league title with a 9-0-2 record and finished 17-2-3 overall. The Tigers’ season ended in a tie with Park Center for third place in the Class 2A state tournament.

Sophomore Mohamed Abdi (16-6-38) returns as the team's leading scorer after a standout freshman year. All-tournament selection Khalid Gelani (12-6-30) will provide leadership for a Tech team that returns 80 percent of its scoring from last season.