Soccer Game Preview: West Johnston vs. Clinton

The West Johnston Wildcats will head out to face off against the Clinton Dark Horses at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. West Johnston will aim to continue their four-game streak of scoring more goals each match than the last.

West Johnston is headed in fresh off scoring the most goals they have all season. They blew past East Wake 10-0 on Monday. Give the Wildcats' defense some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.

Their offense was hitting East Wake from everywhere, as six different players booted in a goal. BROOKE BAIS led that balanced group of strikers and accounted for four goals all by herself.

Meanwhile, Clinton fell victim to Croatan and their airtight defense on Tuesday. They took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cougars. While losing is never fun, the Dark Horses can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina soccer rankings (they are ranked 258th, while the Cougars are ranked 91st).

Clinton has also traveled a rocky road recently, having lost four of their last five contests. That's still a better percentage than their 1-6-1 record this season. West Johnston's win ended a four-game drought on the road and puts them at 3-4-1.

Everything went West Johnston's way against Clinton in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, as West Johnston made off with a 6-3 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for West Johnston since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.