Soccer Game Preview: Watertown vs. Melrose

The Watertown Raiders are taking a road trip to face off against the Melrose Red Hawks at 4:15 p.m. on Monday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Watertown took a loss when they played away from home on Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Saturday. Their defense stepped up to hand Burlington a 4-0 shutout. The final result isn't all that surprising considering Watertown's considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts soccer rankings (they are ranked 61st, while Burlington are ranked 278th).

Meanwhile, Melrose earned a 2-0 victory over Stoneham on Wednesday. That's two games straight that Melrose have won by exactly two goals.

Watertown's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-2-7. The home victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored ten goals over those three contests. As for Melrose, the win got them back to even at 8-8-2.

Watertown was able to grind out a solid victory over Melrose in their previous matchup back in September, winning 4-2. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Raiders since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.