The Lake Zurich Bears will head out to challenge the Palatine Pirates at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Lake Zurich's last four matches have been decided by no more than a goal, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.
On Friday, Lake Zurich didn't have quite enough to beat Zion-Benton and fell 3-2. While losing is never fun, Lake Zurich can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois soccer rankings (they are ranked 109th, while Zion-Benton are ranked 30th).
Meanwhile, Palatine kept a clean sheet against Rolling Meadows on Thursday. They had just enough and edged out the Mustangs 1-0. Tiao Rodriguez had the honor of scoring the game-winner for Palatine.
Lake Zurich's loss ended a three-match streak of away wins and brought them to 8-8-1. As for Palatine, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-8-1.
Lake Zurich came out on top in a nail-biter against Palatine when the teams last played back in October of 2024, sneaking past 2-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bears since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps