Soccer Game Preview: Lake Zurich vs. Palatine

The Lake Zurich Bears will head out to take on the Palatine Pirates at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Neither squad made it on the board the last time they hit the pitch, so they've probably got a bit of extra motivation.

Lake Zurich is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Stevenson, who was ranked 19th at the time (Lake Zurich was ranked 22nd). The Bears won by a goal and slipped past the Patriots 1-0.

Meanwhile, Palatine was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They fell 2-0 to Carmel.

Lake Zurich pushed their record up to 14-2-2 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 18 goals over those seven matchups. As for Palatine, their loss dropped their record down to 8-6-2.

Lake Zurich was able to grind out a solid victory over Palatine in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, winning 2-0. Do the Bears have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Pirates turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.