Soccer Game Preview: Nease vs. Creekside

The Nease Panthers and the Creekside Knights will compete for holiday cheer at 7:20 p.m. on Thursday. Neither squad made it on the board the last time they hit the pitch, so they've probably got a bit of extra motivation.

Nease is headed into Thursday's following a draw, the team's first since November 5. They and Sandalwood finished up on equal footing with a 1-1 draw on Tuesday. The outcome might've been different if Max Roberti hadn't been hit with a yellow card, which no doubt limited his ability to make aggressive plays down the stretch.

Nease's goal came courtesy of Tyler Ghazanfari, who's now up to four this season.

Meanwhile, Creekside kept a clean sheet against Atlantic Coast on Monday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Stingrays, sneaking past 1-0. Given the Knights' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida soccer rankings (they are ranked eighth, while the Stingrays are ranked 197th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Creekside has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-1-2 record this season. Nease's draw makes their record 3-3-2 this season.