Soccer Game Preview: Bartlett vs. Elgin

The Bartlett Hawks will head out to face off against the Elgin Maroons at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Bartlett is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to four goals on Saturday, they were much more limited against West Aurora on Tuesday. They fell just short of the Blackhawks by a score of 1-0. While getting shut out isn't ideal, Bartlett haven't been shut out since back in March.

Meanwhile, after failing to score in their last match, Elgin made sure to put some goals up on the board against Proviso East on Thursday. They never let the Pirates get on the board and left with a 9-0 win. Considering Elgin have won nine contests by more than two goals this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Elgin is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-1-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 52 goals over those 12 matches. As for Bartlett, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 1-1-1 and their overall record down to 4-4-4.

Bartlett came out on top in a nail-biter against Elgin in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, sneaking past 1-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Hawks since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.