SPARTA -- It wasn’t the outcome the Tomah High School boys soccer team had hoped for Tuesday at Sparta High School.

However, there’s a decent chance the Timberwolves will get another shot at the Spartans.

Two early Sparta goals forced Tomah to play catch-up most of the game, and the result was a 3-1 Sparta victory in the final regular-season MVC match for both squads.

The win gave Sparta its second straight MVC championship. The Spartans finished tied for first with La Crosse Central.

Tomah finished its MVC season at 3-2-1. The Timberwolves will draw La Crosse Logan in the first round of the MVC tournament Tuesday with the winner traveling to Central two days later for a semifinal matchup.

If Tomah wins its first two games, another match with Sparta could be in the offing, but Tomah coach Scott Conzemius said his team isn’t looking past Logan.

“We’re excited about our first match against Logan, and we’ll take these tournament games one at a time,” Conzemius said.

The Timberwolves defeated Logan, 3-0, during the their regular-season meeting in Tomah.

Sparta, which finished its MVC season with a five-match winning streak, scored goals in the 10th and 19th minutes to take a 2-0 lead and nearly made it 3-0 shortly after that. Tomah goalkeeper Jared Dietzman made a sprawling save in the 21st minute, and Sparta couldn’t convert a 2-on-1 situation a minute later.

Tomah stormed back down field and scored its only goal in the 24h minute. Auggie Moser worked his way through traffic and ripped a shot the Sparta goaltender couldn’t handle. Zach Johnson swooped in for the weakside rebound to convert the goal.

It was only the third MVC goal Sparta gave up all season, and the Spartans were very stingy about giving up a fourth. Tomah had its best chance to tie the match two minutes into the second half when Jacob Dellamuth slammed a shot off the top of the goalpost.

The Timberwolves had precious few runs at the net after that. After halftime, Sparta dropped four defenders to thwart the Tomah attack.

“They’ve got outstanding coaches, and they knew to play safe soccer,” Conzemius said. “We didn’t finish our opportunities, and Sparta finished the ones they had.”

Tomah outshot the Spartans, 8-7.

Despite finishing fourth in the conference, Tomah still led the MVC with 19 goals.

Tuesday’s first round matchups for the MVC tournament are (seeds in parentheses):

*La Crosse Logan (5) at Tomah (4).

*La Crosse Aquinas (6) at Onalaska (3)

*Holmen (7) at Sparta (2).

Second-round matches for Oct. 9 are:

*Logan-Tomah winner at Central (1).

*Aquinas-Onalaska winner vs. Holmen-Sparta at site of higher seed.

*Aquinas-Onalaska loser vs. Holmen-Sparta loser at site of higher seed.

The finals will be played at Fields for Kids in La Crosse Oct. 14.