WORLAND - The Warrior and Lady Warrior soccer teams are locked and ready to go for the Wyoming state soccer tournament that begins today.

The Lady Warriors will be the first team in action as they take on Star Valley at 9 a.m. The Lady Warriors are the No. 2 ranked 3A girls team in the state and earned a 1-seed by winning the Northwest quadrant. The last time these two teams met up was in Star Valley and Worland walked away with 3-2 OT victory.

As one of four No. 1-seeds the Lady Warriors avoided the regional play-in match and had the weekend off. The extra time off allowed the team to fine-tune elements of their game and focus on their first match at state. "We've had terrific practices and the mindset of the team has been great. With this kind of layoff you always get a little worried about the energy level or the girls not being focused but they've come to each practice locked in," said coach Danielle Warren.

"We've talked about our strengths and weakness and how to capitalize on our strengths. The girls know from here on out each game could be the last and when we come together as a team the sky's the limit for this group," added coach Warren.

The Warriors opening match of the state tournament is 4 p.m. today against No. 1-seed and No. 1 3A boys team Jackson. This will be the fourth match this season against Jackson and the Warriors have dropped all three by the scores of 3-0, 2-0 and 4-1.

But that was the regular season and the state tournament is an entirely different animal.

Coach Ron Overcast has liked what he has seen from his team in the practices leading up to the state tournament, "We have our legs under us and we are ready to go. There's no worry about looking ahead either because we have Jackson first time out and the guys have been eager to get out and play."

There were also parallels drawn between this Warrior soccer team and the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, "Look at what OKC is doing right now and no one gave them a shot against Golden State. Everyone says too bad about playing Jackson but the guys don't see it like that, they're looking forward to taking on Jackson. And we're going to keep it simple against Jackson by scoring one more goal than they do," said coach Overcast.

The Lady Warriors take the pitch at 9 a.m. and the Warriors at 4 p.m.