Soccer Game Preview: Apex Friendship vs. Holly Springs

The Apex Friendship Patriots will take on the Holly Springs Golden Hawks at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Apex Friendship comes in on five and Holly Springs on nine.

On Wednesday, Apex Friendship earned a 3-1 victory over Panther Creek. Given Apex Friendship's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina soccer rankings (they are ranked 60th, while Panther Creek are ranked 312th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Holly Springs). Their defense stepped up to hand Cary a 9-0 shutout on Wednesday. Give Holly Springs' defense some credit: that's the team's sixth straight shutout.

Their offense was hitting Cary from everywhere, as seven different players booted in a goal. Ella Goetze-Thompson led that balanced group of strikers and accounted for two goals all by herself.

Holly Springs pushed their record up to 9-0 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. The victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 20 goals over those four games. As for Apex Friendship, their win bumped their record up to 7-3-1.