Soccer Game Preview: Marshall vs. Jacksonville

Marshall hasn't had much luck against Jacksonville recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Marshall Mavericks will face off against the Jacksonville Fightin' Indians at 7:00 p.m.

Marshall is headed into Friday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their sixth straight game on Friday. They lost 8-0 to Mt. Pleasant. While losing is never fun, the Mavericks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas soccer rankings (they are ranked 585th, while the Tigers are ranked 170th).

Meanwhile, Jacksonville came tearing into Tuesday's game with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3 goals) and they left with even more momentum. Their defense stepped up to hand the Tigers a 6-0 shutout. Give the Fightin' Indians' defense some credit: that's the team's seventh straight shutout.

Lauren Wade and Jewel McCullough scored all six of Jacksonville's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 29 goals.

Jacksonville's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 12-1-1. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 15 goals over those four contests. As for Marshall, their loss dropped their record down to 2-6-1.

Marshall suffered a grim 5-0 defeat to Jacksonville when the teams last played back in March of 2020. Can Marshall avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.