North Vermilion boys have second round soccer match on Wednesday

The North Vermilion Patriots soccer team has a bye in the first round of the Division III Soccer Playoffs, which got underway on Saturday.
No. 16 Abbeville High played No. 17 Deridder in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday. The winner of that match will play the No. 1 seed St. Louis this week.
This will be the first time North Vermilion’s soccer team draws a bye in the first round.
The team will play the winner of Saturday’s No. 9 Episcopal/ No. 24 Grant High winner set for Wednesday at North Vermilion High.
The Patriots, who at one time were seeded No. 3 in the power point rankings, fell to No. 8 when they began playing district matches.
NVHS soccer coach Mark Patin, who is a volunteer head coach, is surprised by how well the season turned out.
He thought this would be a rebuilding year for his squad.
“I was projecting a rebuilding year,” said Patin. “We lost quality players last year.”
With a varsity squad made up of seven seniors and 10 juniors, the Patriots began the first nine matches by winning two, losing one and tieing five. Then they travelled to north Louisiana and competed in a tournament against good teams and picked up quality wins which also helped in power point rankings.
“We began the year playing strong competition,” said Patin. “We played at a level we needed to compete against them.”
Playing the strong teams helped when it came to power point rankings, he said.
The Patriots enter the playoffs winning four out of their last five matches.
To win on Wednesday, the Patriots will have to play “Their A game,” said Patin.
The projected 11 starting players for NV are: Connor Patin (forward), Andres Amador (midfielder), Dylan Duhon (defender), Connor Dupuy (defender), Camrin Hebert (midfielder), Hunter Hulin (mid fielder), Brett Saltzman (defender), Brant Guidry (forward), Cameron Touchet (mid fielder), Caleb Castro (defender) and goalie Thad Palma.