Soccer Game Preview: Des Moines East vs. Marshalltown

The Des Moines East Scarlets will head out on the road to challenge the Marshalltown Bobcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Des Moines East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Iowa's top teams: Roland-Story, who was ranked ninth at the time (Des Moines East was ranked 17th). The Scarlets fell just short of the Norsemen by a score of 4-3 on Tuesday. That's two games in a row now that Des Moines East have lost by just one goal.

Meanwhile, Marshalltown waltzed into their match on Tuesday with seven straight wins... but they left with eight. They never let the Polar Bears get on the board and left with a 2-0 victory. Give Marshalltown's defense some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.

Marshalltown's win was their sixth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-6-1. As for Des Moines East, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 13-2-1.

Des Moines East came out on top in a nail-biter against Marshalltown when the teams last played back in April of 2024, sneaking past 3-2. Will the Scarlets repeat their success, or do the Bobcats have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.