Soccer Preview: Xavier vs. Hand
The Xavier Falcons have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the Hand Tigers at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams each escaped with close wins against their previous opponents.
On Thursday, it was close, but Xavier sidestepped Guilford for a 2-1 win. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' Connecticut soccer rankings (they are ranked second, while the Grizzlies are ranked 34th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, it may have taken extra minutes to finish the job, but Hand ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. Their defense stepped up to hand Fairfield Prep a 1-0 shutout. The score was all tied up 0-0 at the break, but the Tigers were the better team in the second half.
Xavier is on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-2-2 record this season. As for Hand, their victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-2-2.
Xavier skirted past Hand 3-2 when the teams last played last Thursday. Does Xavier have another victory up their sleeve, or will Hand turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
