Soccer Game Preview: Athens vs. Hartselle

The Athens Golden Eagles will venture away from home to challenge the Hartselle Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Athens knows how to get goals on the board -- the squad has finished with four goals or more in their past three contests -- so hopefully Hartselle likes a good challenge.

Athens barely beat Muscle Shoals the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Golden Eagles put the hurt on the Trojans with a sharp 8-2 win on Tuesday. With Athens ahead 4-1 at the half, the match was all but over already.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Hartselle challenged Cullman on Tuesday. The Tigers fell just short of the Bearcats by a score of 2-1. Hartselle haven't had much luck with Cullman recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.

Athens is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-7-1 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 36 goals over those seven contests. As for Hartselle, their loss dropped their record down to 10-7-5.

Athens might still be hurting after the 10-0 defeat they got from Hartselle in their previous meeting back in March of 2025. Can the Golden Eagles avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.