Soccer Game Preview: Clemente vs. Chicago Academy

The Clemente Wildcats are taking a road trip to square off against the Chicago Academy Cougars at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Clemente's offense has struggled lately (the team hasn't scored more than a single goal for five straight games), a trend the team is no doubt ready to end.

Clemente is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Their defense stepped up to hand Rickover Naval a 1-0 shutout.

Meanwhile, Chicago Academy won against Steinmetz College Prep two weeks ago with five goals and they decided to stick to that goal total again on Monday. The Cougars blew past Aspira 5-1. Considering Chicago Academy have won seven matchups by more than two goals this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.

Chicago Academy was without their leading scorer, Bryan Juarez, in Monday's contest. With Juarez sidelined, Julian Cortina got his first action of the season.

Chicago Academy has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-4-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 14 goals over those four matchups. As for Clemente, the win got them back to even at 6-6.

Clemente suffered a grim 8-3 defeat to Chicago Academy in their previous meeting back in September of 2021. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point the Wildcats were down 6-1.