Soccer Game Preview: Athens vs. Van

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Previous Games

03/08/24 - Home	4-3 W
02/06/24 - Away	1-2 L
03/10/23 - Away	4-2 W
02/07/23 - Home	4-0 W
02/28/20 - Home	3-1 W
+ 3 more games

Athens has gone 7-1 against Van recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Athens Hornets will look to defend their home pitch against the Van Vandals at 7:00 p.m. The timing isn't great for Athens: they have been struggling with three straight losses at home, while Van has snatched up three consecutive wins on the road.

Athens is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Chapel Hill on Tuesday. Athens fell just short of Chapel Hill by a score of 2-1. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Hornets came into the matchup with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Texas soccer rankings (they are ranked 318th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 651st).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Van). They never let Brownsboro onto the board and left with a 7-0 win on Tuesday. The Vandals' defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a goal in their last three games.

Van's victory bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Athens, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-6.

Athens skirted past Van 4-3 in their previous matchup back in March of 2024. Will Athens repeat their success, or does Van have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.