The Rapid City Stevens girls' soccer team is heading into the Class AA state tournament in Aberdeen beginning today without a loss, and plenty of confidence, after rolling through the regular season with a 12-0-1 record. But they're not too confident.

"Even though we've won the league and gone undefeated, we just don't want to come out overconfident," Stevens head coach Troy Anderson said. "This is the state tournament and every team has the goal of winning state, no matter where they're ranked. You can throw the rankings out the door because every team coming in is trying to achieve the same goal."

The only non-victory on the Raiders' record came in the season-opener at Sioux Falls Washington, when Stevens and the Warriors played to a 0-0 draw. Washington comes into the tournament with a 10-1-1 record in power-point games, losing only to Aberdeen Central in Aberdeen by a score of

1-0. Stevens has rattled off 12 straight victories since the opener in Sioux Falls, including seven more shutouts, while averaging 3.75 goals per contest.

"It's really been a team effort," Anderson said of the unbeaten regular season. "I think this is one of the most well-balanced teams we've had. It feels like we have the whole package this year with the offense and defense both being strong, we're so well balanced and the team chemistry is probably the best out of any group of girls that I've had as far as playing and working together."

The Raiders have only allowed seven goals all season long, which is a testament in part to the direction given by senior goalkeeper Felicia Reimann.

"Felicia has had a great career," Anderson said of a player that has been on the varsity since the eighth grade. "She's done a tremendous job all season long and provided great leadership."

Reimann combines with a strong, experienced defensive back line to form the backbone of the team.

"Defense wins games, and not only do they do a good job of shutting down the opposing offenses, but they come up and give support on the attack," Anderson said. "We've had several defenders come up throughout the season and put the ball in the net. That just brings up our strength as a team when we get that attack from the back."

The Raiders will square off with No. 8 seed Sioux Falls Roosevelt (4-6-2 overall) in their first game of the tournament today at 3:30 p.m. MDT. The Raiders knocked off Roosevelt, 3-1, in their earlier meeting this season.

"Roosevelt is a team that can surprise you," Anderson said. "When they're on they'll put together a good match. They've got a lot of speed, and they've got a couple of girls that can finish from the outside."

No. 2-seeded Sioux Falls Washington squares off with Spearfish (4-6-2) at

2 p.m. in their first-round game. The Spartans played the Warriors in Spearfish on Sept. 19, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Rough Riders after falling behind 3-1 at halftime. The Spartans' Jordan Post knocked in a pair of goals in that game.

The other first-round matchups in the state tournament at the Moccasin Creek Complex in Aberdeen are Pierre vs. Yankton and Sioux Falls O'Gorman vs. Aberdeen Central. The tournament is single elimination, but places will be played out from championship through a seventh-eighth place game. The championship tilt is scheduled to be played Saturday at 4:30 p.m.