Ray Hamill?humboldtSports.com – Ava Leonardo and the Fortuna Huskies will open the NCS playoffs at home on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — Get ready for round two.

After an exhilarating ride through the H-DNL that saw the league championship go down to the final week of action, the top three contenders are poised to battle again for the North Coast Section girls soccer championship as the top three seeds in the Division-I bracket.

Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata will each have an opening-round bye in the nine-team field, before all three open at home next weekend.

This is the third straight year the three North Coast rivals have been the top three seeds in the NCS.

The Fortuna Huskies, fresh off their historic first-ever league title, earned the top seed and will open against either St. Helena or Clear Lake as part of a doubleheader with the school’s boys team on Friday night.

The boys, who also earned the No. 1 seed, get the action started at 5 p.m., followed by the girls at 7 p.m.

“We’re definitely pleased to get the one seed,” Fortuna girls head coach Kathleen Lynch said. “I felt like the girls earned that this season, and now hopefully we can do something with it.”

The Huskies won the NCS two years ago in a penalty shootout over Eureka for the program’s only ever Section championship.

And Lynch is hoping a home crowd on Friday will help get both Fortuna teams started on the right track this season.

“I was excited to see they were able to make that happen,” Lynch said. “It’ll be fun to have a night like that together.”

The Fortuna girls are 14-0-2 on the season.

Eureka, Arcata could meet in the semifinal

The defending NCS champion Loggers are seeded No. 2 will open the defense of their title at home against No. 7 Cloverdale at Albee Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m.

After pushing the Huskies all the way for the league crown, the Eureka girls (9-1-2) won’t lack confidence going into the playoffs.

Likewise with Arcata, which will open at home against No. 6 Credo at a time and date yet to be determined.

The No. 3 seed Tigers made it all the way to the NCS decider a year ago after overcoming Fortuna in the semifinals.

The Tigers, who are 11-3 on the season, could face off against Eureka in this year’s semifinals a week from Wednesday if each wins their opening game.

St. Bernard’s, South Fork included in D-III bracket

As expected, St. Bernard’s received the No. 2 seed in the Division-III bracket and will potentially play two home games, opening against either Upper Lake or Roseland Prep on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The Crusaders are 6-10-2, but have played mostly Big 5 schools and will go into the smaller schools bracket quietly confident of a return trip to the title game.

Technology, as expected, received the top seed.

The two teams played for the NCS championship a year ago.

Also in Division-III, the South Fork girls received the No. 5 seed and will open at No. 4 Calistoga on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The Cubs are 3-3 against smaller schools this season, and could be better prepared for a strong playoff run than many of their D-III opponents after matching up against the top D-I teams all season.

A win for South Fork in the opening round will set up a semifinal date at Technology next Saturday night.