Soccer Game Preview: St. Margaret's vs. Channel Islands

The St. Margaret's Tartans will challenge the Channel Islands Raiders at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Margaret's offense has struggled lately (the team hasn't scored more than a single goal for seven straight games), a trend the team is no doubt ready to end.

St. Margaret's is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They never let Pioneer get on the board and left with a 1-0 win. Given the Tartans' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 78th, while the Titans are ranked 396th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Channel Islands had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2 goals) and they went ahead and made it four on Saturday. They put the hurt on the Trojans with a sharp 3-0 victory. The Raiders' defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a goal in their last four contests.

Channel Islands' win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-6. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 20 goals over those six matches. As for St. Margaret's, they have been performing well recently as they've won seven of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season.