Soccer Game Preview: Ottawa vs. Rochelle

The Ottawa Pirates will venture away from home to face off against the Rochelle Hubs at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

Ottawa is likely headed into the matchup with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Sycamore on Wednesday. The Pirates fell just short of the Spartans by a score of 2-1. Ottawa haven't had much luck with Sycamore recently, as the team has come up short the last seven times they've met.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Rochelle, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Monday. They blew past LaSalle-Peru 6-2 on Wednesday. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for Rochelle considering their one-goal performance the game before.

Ottawa's loss dropped their record down to 2-6. As for Rochelle, their win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 6-7.

Ottawa was able to grind out a solid victory over Rochelle in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 6-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Pirates since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.