Soccer Game Preview: Atlee vs. Monacan

The Atlee Raiders will square off against the Monacan Chiefs at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams beat their previous opponents by a single goal, so this matchup might be just as contested.

Atlee is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Their defense stepped up to hand Hanover a 1-0 shutout. Given Atlee's advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia soccer rankings (they are ranked 16th, while Hanover are ranked 61st) , the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Monacan had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.1 goals) and they went ahead and made it eight on Tuesday. They came within a single goal of losing the streak, but they secured a 3-2 W against the Cougars. Three seems to be a good number for Monacan as the team scooped up a win with the same number of goals in their previous game.

Atlee is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-3 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 57 goals over those 12 games. As for Monacan, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-4-1.

Atlee came up short against Monacan in their previous matchup back in May of 2023, falling 3-1. Can the Raiders avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.