Soccer Game Preview: Rootstown vs. Champion

The Rootstown Rovers will square off against the Champion Golden Flashes at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Rootstown sitting on three straight victories and Champion on seven.

While Rootstown's win against Kirtland wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Rovers' defense stepped up to hand the Hornets a 1-0 shutout on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Champion had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They had just enough and edged out Northwestern 1-0. Give Champion's defense some credit: that's the team's fifth straight shutout.

Champion's victory bumped their record up to 19-0-1. As for Rootstown, their win bumped their record up to 14-4-1.

Everything went Rootstown's way against Champion when the teams last played back in October of 2017, as Rootstown made off with a 3-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Rovers since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.