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Steamboat Springs — Wide-eyes and playoff nerves shouldn't be a problem for the Thompson Valley High School girls soccer team today.

Even as Thompson Valley enters a 6 p.m. game today at Gardner Field as the underdog - the Eagles are seeded 22nd while the host Sailors are 11th - the team's schedule and league have prepared it for just about anything.

So while the Eagles finished just 8-6-1 overall, they played in the Northern League, often regarded as one of the best leagues in Class 4A.

For perspective, six other Northern League teams made the playoffs, including five teams landing in the top 15 seeds.

"We spend so much time in our 15 game playoff season just to get to the playoffs," Thompson Valley coach Nate Hancock said, referencing the difficulty of his team's schedule. "We've been focusing on getting through our conference."

The Eagles almost didn't make the playoffs. In accordance with its tough schedule, a season-opening tie with Berthoud almost cost Thompson Valley. Luckily, Thompson Valley won tiebreakers with Longmont and Skyline to make the playoffs.

Hancock said he didn't know a lot about Steamboat, but he's relatively familiar with some of the Sailors after coming to Steamboat with club teams in the summer. He said judging by Steamboat's record and how the team cruised through the Western Slope League that he knows his team will have to play well.

Steamboat finished the season 11-3-1, with two of its losses coming to Class 5A playoff teams.

"Our focus has been in big games and competitive games of having the proper mentality to go to goal," Steamboat coach Rob Bohlmann said. "When we look back at all our tight games and defensively, we've been solid. But it's the goal production that has to be big (today).

"Those goal-scoring personalities are there. The buildup in our attack, delivering the ball and getting it into the attacking third is all there. It's just a matter of can we actually produce in the 80 minutes of the game."

For Thompson Valley, the key might be finding the right balance on offense and defense. The Eagles had a trio of girls - Courtney Pitt, Emma Howard and Sydney Paulsen - combine to score 40 goals this year and were near the top of the Northern League in offensive statistics.

However, Thompson Valley also gave up 2.4 goals a game this year, a stat that left the team at the bottom of the conference.

"We've got to just avoid unforced errors so to speak," Hancock said. "We've given up some of those iffy goals and put ourselves into holes. I'd just like to secure the defense and be strong with that and let our offense do what they do."

The winner of today's game plays the winner of sixth-seed Valor Christian and No. 27 Woodland Park on Saturday. The higher seed will host the game.