Soccer Game Preview: Richland County vs. Centralia

The Richland County Tigers will head out on the road to face off against the Centralia Orphans at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.

On Monday, Richland County came up short against Mattoon and fell 4-2.

Meanwhile, Centralia fell victim to Marion and their airtight defense on Tuesday. They came up short against the Wildcats, falling 5-0. While losing is never fun, Centralia can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois soccer rankings (they are ranked 235th, while Marion are ranked 90th).

This is the second loss in a row for Centralia and nudges their season record down to 7-6-2. As for Richland County, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-4.

Richland County beat Centralia 2-0 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Tigers since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.