The Macomb High girls soccer team had to wait an additional two days, but started its 2026 season this week, playing at the 11th Annual Lady Raider Soccer Classic hosted by East Peoria High School at the Eastside Centre.
The Bombers began pool play Wednesday, facing Lincoln and Canton.
MHS and Lincoln both scored first half goals with their match ending in a 1-1 draw.
Mariella Rodriguez scored for Macomb with keeper Natasha Lin recording eight saves.
Shay Neeley scored the goal for Lincoln with Kate Clark recording the assist.
Macomb faced Canton in its second match of the day. After a scoreless opening half, both teams tailed goals in the second half with the end result being a 1-1 draw.
Kate Rector scored Macomb’s goal on a cross from Taylor Mann.
Lin recorded 20 saves as the Bombers finished pool play with a 0-0-2 record.
The final match in Pool B saw Lincoln defeat Canton 2-0. Shay Neeley scored both goals for Lincoln, one in each half, giving the Railsplitters the top spot in Pool B.
In Pool A, Galesburg defeated East Peoria 7-0 and Limestone 5-0 in advancing to the finals.
Limestone defeated East Peoria 4-0 to earn the second position.
The tournament wrapped up play Friday with Macomb playing Limestone for third place.
The Rockets scored twice in the opening half and maintained the advantage in the final 30 minutes in winning 2-0.
Paige Werneburg and Khloe Stear scored goals for Limestone (2-1-0) with Gracie Sims recording an assist for the Rockets.
Lin tallied 18 saves for Macomb (0-1-2). Rector, a sophomore and Mann, a freshman, were named to the All Tournament Team.
The fifth place match saw Canton score five goals in the opening half on the way to posting a 7-0 victory over the hosts.
The title contest saw Galesburg get three goals and an assist each from Madalyn Lardi and Haleigh Jezek-Irlein defeating Lincoln 6-0.
Galesburg finished tournament play with a 3-0-0 record, while Lincoln wrapped up play with a 1-1-1 record.
Macomb High is slated to play its home opener Tuesday at MHS Stadium against Stanford Olympia.
Olympia lost at Bartonville to Limestone Saturday 4-0 in entering Tuesdays match with a 1-2-0 record.
