Soccer Game Preview: Shepard vs. Marist

The Shepard Astros are taking a road trip to take on the Marist RedHawks at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Shepard's offense has struggled lately (the team hasn't scored more than a single goal for three straight games), a trend the team is no doubt ready to end.

Shepard is likely headed into the match with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Sandburg on Saturday. The Astros fell 3-1 to the Eagles. While losing is never fun, Shepard can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois soccer rankings (they are ranked 288th, while Sandburg are ranked 74th).

Shepard's goal came courtesy of Eron Magana, who's now up to four this season.

Meanwhile, Marist managed to keep up with Carmel until halftime on Saturday, but things quickly went downhill from there. The RedHawks came up short against the Corsairs, falling 5-2. That's two games in a row now that Marist have lost by exactly three goals.

Marist's loss dropped their record down to 6-10. As for Shepard, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11-1.

Shepard was able to grind out a solid win over Marist when the teams last played back in October of 2024, winning 3-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Astros since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.