On Monday, the Pella High girls soccer team accomplished their goal of qualifying for the Class 2A State Tournament. Today, they’ll take the first step toward a potential State Title. The Lady Dutch face Sioux City East in this afternoon’s quarterfinal round. Captains Taylor Rennich and Kim Korver, who each play defense for Pella High, say that the mental preparations are just as important as the physical skills they’ve worked so hard at.

“We just really need to focus, and that all start in our pre-game warm-up,” said Rennich. “And we have to take it one game at a time. We have to win the first game, and then the second, and then the third.”

“I think we believe in ourselves and I think our community really supports us, too,” added Korver. “It’s really important for us to come out strong in the first few minutes of the game. That really sets the tone for how we play – and how the game is going to go – so I think that will be huge for us.”

Pella enters the State Tournament with a 16-3 overall record and are coming off to two dominating 10-0 blowouts in the Regional Tournament. Sioux City East, meanwhile, is a salty 17-1 and got past No. 8 Spencer with a 3-1 win in their Regional Final.

The match begins at 2:30 p.m. today at the Muscatine Soccer Complex. Stay tuned to 92.1 fm KRLS this afternoon for score updates throughout the match, or keep up with the action on kniakrls.com.