Soccer Game Preview: Independence vs. Rocky River

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Previous Games

09/04/25 - Away	6-0 W
10/21/24 - Away	4-0 W
10/15/24 - Home	8-1 W
10/24/23 - Home	8-4 W
09/28/23 - Away	7-3 W
+ 5 more games

Independence is 9-1 against Rocky River since March of 2021 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. The Patriots will be playing at home against the Ravens at 5:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Independence has three straight victories, Rocky River has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the pitch.

If Rocky River heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Independence took over last week. The Patriots walked away with a 3-1 win over Butler on Tuesday. Even though Independence got in a bit of trouble with the refs ( Alexander Lampi was handed a red card), the team managed to overcome the adversity.

Dennis Sanchez and Mark Verret scored all three of Independence's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 25 goals.

Meanwhile, Rocky River fell victim to Ballantyne Ridge and their airtight defense on Tuesday. They took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Wolves. While losing is never fun, Rocky River can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina soccer rankings (they are ranked 440th, while Ballantyne Ridge are ranked 100th).

Rocky River's loss dropped their record down to 1-19-1. As for Independence, their victory bumped their record up to 14-4.

Independence took their win against Rocky River when the teams last played back in September by a conclusive 6-0 score. Will the Patriots repeat their success, or do the Ravens have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.