Unfortunately for the Jaguars, the rematch strongly resembled the regular-season contest, as second-seeded Grandview got two goals by Sam Stull -- the district Player of the Year -- in the first 17 minutes en route to a 5-1 victory. Forward Jeremy Guinn scored for the Jaguars.

Grandview lost to fourth-seeded Columbus Academy 3-0 in a district final last Saturday.

"More than anything, Grandview's talent and speed were tough for us to match up with," said first-year coach Brian Galvin, whose team finished 7-7-3 record. "They're lightning fast and if you make one mistake, they will send seven or eight guys into the attack. That's hard to keep up with.

"The 5-1 score is not indicative of how we played. (Aside from the first 17 minutes), I thought the game was pretty even. But you can't make mistakes or they will burn you every time."

Wellington, which defeated Madison Plains 10-0 in the second round Oct. 24 after having a first-round bye, finished with a non-losing record for the first time since 2000.

The Jaguars' schedule included the four district finalists. They tied Academy at 1 on Sept. 1, tied Fairbanks at 1 on Sept. 15, lost to Worthington Christian 5-0 on Oct. 1 and lost twice to Grandview, including the postseason contest.

Top-seeded Worthington Christian defeated fifth-seeded Fairbanks 2-0 in the other district final.

"We played a very tough schedule this year," Galvin said. "We've seen what it takes to be one of the teams in the upper echelon. That's where we hope to be next year."

Wellington loses two seniors in Guinn and midfielder Saarik Gupta. Guinn, the team's leading scorer with 13 goals and six assists, was named first-team all-district.

"Both of those guys were great leaders on and off the field," Galvin said. "They were fantastic in understanding the things (assistant coach Kyle) Hamrick and I were trying to do and leading the other guys to buy into that system."

Defensively, expected to return are sophomore goalie Ryan McLaughlin and his backup, junior Matt Sorrels, as well as eight defenders in juniors Alex Anderson, Trent Boyer, Nick Bruno, Nathan Klabunde, Reid Postle and Taiyo Scanlon-Kimura, sophomore Will Hess and freshman Vishal Sharoff. The Jaguars allowed an average of 1.76 goals a game.

Galvin, whose team averaged 2.88 goals a game, said one of the keys for the Jaguars will be to find a go-to scorer to replace Guinn. Expected to return are juniors Chris Coughlin, Corey Morse (seven goals, one assist) and Leo Pedicelli and freshman Iakovos Anastasakis at forward and juniors David Connell and Patrick Kim (10 goals, six assists) and sophomores Jack Jeffrey and Omead Sinai at midfield.

McLaughlin and Kim both made third-team all-district.

"One of the things we tried to establish this year was success in our program is not just about winning," Galvin said. "It's about doing their best off the field and in the classroom. They really raised the level of the program. We became more of a family than a team.

"We told them after the (tournament loss to Grandview) that the offseason starts right now. The more they play and get involved in club soccer, the better we're going to be as a team next year."