Merrillville has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Andrean Fighting 59ers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Merrillville will be strutting in after a victory while Andrean will be coming in after a defeat.
Merrillville's defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. They walked away with a 2-0 win over Kankakee Valley. Given the Pirates' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana soccer rankings (they are ranked 92nd, while the Kougars are ranked 232nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Matthew Maldonado and
Jaiden Torres scored both of Merrillville's goals, bringing their combined season tally to three goals.
Meanwhile, Andrean's game on Saturday was all tied up 0-0 at the half, but sadly for them it didn't stay that way. They took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Portage. That's two games in a row now that the Fighting 59ers have lost by exactly two goals.
Merrillville pushed their record up to 4-1-1 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. As for Andrean, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-3-1 record this season.
Merrillville was able to grind out a solid win over Andrean in their previous meeting back in August of 2023, winning 2-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Merrillville 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
