Soccer Game Preview: El Rancho vs. Santa Fe

The El Rancho Dons will look to take advantage of their home pitch for the first time this season as they take on the Santa Fe Chiefs at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Having struggled with three defeats in a row, El Rancho turned things around against La Serna last Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Lancers 2-1. The score was all tied up 1-1 at the break, but the Dons were the better team in the second half.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Santa Fe). Everything went their way against Whittier on Tuesday as Santa Fe made off with a 5-1 victory. The high-scoring effort was just what the Chiefs needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.

Santa Fe is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-1-4 record this season. As for El Rancho, they now have a winning record of 8-7.

El Rancho beat Santa Fe by a goal when the teams last played back in February of 2024, winning 1-0. Will El Rancho repeat their success, or does Santa Fe have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.