Today marks the beginning of another state girls soccer playoffs and eight Utah Valley teams are hoping this is the season they make their marks.

The team that wants a duplicate of the 2007 tournament is Orem, since the Tigers started out at the No. 2 spot from their region that year as well and ended up with the 4A state title, knocking off Mountain Crest, Dixie, Mountain View and Highland to get to the pinnacle of their sport.

This year Orem hosts Bonneville in the first round and though many of the players that won last year have graduated, the Tigers have plenty of talent ready to get their opportunity. (See scheduled, C6.)

Things are a little bit different for the squad that also reached the title game last fall as Lone Peak will begin their quest for a fourth consecutive trip to the 5A championship by going on the road to Skyline.

"I was thinking about it and the last year I started on the road was in 2000 when I was at Mountain View, but we went on to win the title," said Knight head coach Mike LaHargoue. "This is unfamiliar territory for the girls but it's not a bad thing to me."

Lone Peak came out on the short end of the coin toss, since the Knights tied atop the Region 4 standings with Lehi and Timpanogos. Lone Peak knows it'll have to be at the top of their game against the Eagles.

"It wasn't a fluke that Skyline got the second seed," LaHargoue said. "I've seen them play twice and they're solid.

"Scoring first will be the key because we're a lot different team when we're on top. We play with more confidence. We need to start out hot because when we've done that, we've done well."

The Knights aren't the only ones looking for a fast start. The Pioneers took a little time to get going last year at Davis and found themselves on the short end.

Lehi has a home game this year against Brighton and plans to make the most of it.

"I think Region 2 is one of the toughest in the state but they're coming down to our place," said Pioneer head coach Brett Bergholm. "We can go through our normal routine without worrying about traveling and the time it takes."

Lehi will drop down to 4A again next fall and would like to finish their time in the 5A ranks with a splash.

"It's been a unique situation," Bergholm said. "We've gotten a lot more recognition in 5A. This is our last hurrah and we'd like to make a good showing."

Other squads are also hungry for good showings. Timpanogos and Springville have proud soccer traditions but haven't quite made it to the next level yet.

"We've learned that the difference between the No. 1 team and the No. 4 or 5 teams in many regions is slim," said Red Devil head coach Ryan Swanson. "We need to come out focused and play our game. We've lost in the first round two of the last three years but our level of our confidence is high."

Both of them have the edge of being at home both to start and in the quarterfinals if they advance.

"We know our field," Swanson said. "It's a little short but we've adapted our game. It's nice to be home for the first two rounds."

The Timberwolves have a tough game against Jordan to start things off while Springville will need to be ready for West to come to town.

"We need to sustain our offense," Swanson explained. "We need to not rush things. If we can get off a lot of shots, I have no doubt we can win."

The other three games are all road games for Region 7 teams as Provo heads to East, Mountain View travels to Pine View and Timpview goes south to meet Dixie.

All of the games are slated to begin at 4 p.m.

Jared Lloyd can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it