The Blue Ridge Barons will challenge the Eastern Mennonite Flames at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Blue Ridge's offense has struggled lately (the team hasn't scored more than a single goal for four straight games), a trend the team is no doubt ready to end.
Blue Ridge is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Virginia's top teams: Seton, who was ranked third at the time (Blue Ridge was ranked 18th). The Barons took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Conquistadors on Friday.
Meanwhile, Eastern Mennonite kept a clean sheet against Fishburne Military on Tuesday. They were the clear victors by a 6-0 margin over the Caissons. Eastern Mennonite haven't had any issues with Fishburne Military recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.
Eastern Mennonite used a slightly different lineup for their bout with Fishburne Military. Three players got more time on the pitch than they're used to: Noah May (29), Isaac Stoltzfus (47), and Nolan Kratz (43). The trio had averaged 14, 16.7, and 20.4 minutes respectively before Tuesday's match. Kratz made the most of the opportunity, scoring a goal A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
Eastern Mennonite's victory bumped their record up to 9-6-1. As for Blue Ridge, their loss dropped their record down to 8-4-1.
Blue Ridge beat Eastern Mennonite 2-0 when the teams last played back in November of 2024. Will the Barons repeat their success, or do the Flames have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
