Soccer Game Preview: Crystal Lake Central vs. Lakes

The Crystal Lake Central Tigers will venture away from home to take on the Lakes Eagles at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Crystal Lake Central sitting on three straight victories and Lakes on five.

Crystal Lake Central's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They came out on top against Central by a score of 2-0. Given Crystal Lake Central's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois soccer rankings (they are ranked 46th, while Central are ranked 192nd) , the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Lakes made easy work of Woodstock on Saturday and carried off a 4-0 win. Considering Lakes have won five contests by more than two goals this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.

Lakes pushed their record up to 7-2 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only given up one goal over those four games. As for Crystal Lake Central, their victory bumped their record up to 8-3-1.

Crystal Lake Central took their win against Lakes in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 5-1 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Tigers since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.