Soccer Preview: Hickory vs. Statesville
Hickory is 7-0 against Statesville since February of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Hickory Red Tornadoes will head out on the road to square off against the Statesville Greyhounds at 5:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hickory has 12 straight wins, Statesville has 13 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Hickory's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They walked away with a 2-0 victory over East Lincoln. Hickory's defense has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a goal in their last seven matchups.
Kathleen Bridges and
Piper Jillings scored both of Hickory's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 19 goals.
Meanwhile, Tuesday just wasn't the day for Statesville's offense. They lost 7-0 to St. Stephens on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, Statesville can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina soccer rankings (they are ranked 455th, while St. Stephens is ranked 185th).
Hickory pushed their record up to 16-3-1 with that win, which was their eighth straight at home. As for Statesville, their loss dropped their record down to 0-13.
Hickory took their victory against Statesville in their previous meeting back in April by a conclusive 9-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hickory since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
