Hardaway hasn't had much luck against Columbus recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Hardaway Hawks are taking a road trip to face off against the Columbus Blue Devils at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Hardaway will roll into the match after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up one goal two weeks ago, then bounced right back against Kendrick on Tuesday. Hardaway's defense stepped up to hand Kendrick an 8-0 shutout. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Hawks' offense, which had struggled in the games prior.
Their offense was hitting Kendrick from everywhere, as five different players booted in a goal. Jimena Morales led that balanced group of strikers and accounted for three goals all by herself.
Meanwhile, Columbus came tearing into Thursday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.3 goals), and they left with even more momentum. While the 0-0 score might suggest a draw, it was Columbus who was credited with the victory. Columbus got it done in the shootout by posting one goals to McIntosh's zero. Given the Blue Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia soccer rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Chiefs are ranked 66th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Columbus' win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-1. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only given up zero goals over those three contests. As for Hardaway, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-2.
Hardaway suffered a grim 10-0 defeat to Columbus when the teams last played back in February of 2022. Can Hardaway avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
