Soccer Game Preview: Royal vs. Crespi

The Royal Highlanders will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Crespi Celts on Thursday. Royal has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with four straight defeats, while Crespi will come in with three straight victories.

Royal is likely headed into the match with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Camarillo on Friday. Royal fell just short of Camarillo by a score of 2-1. While losing is never fun, the Highlanders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 785th, while the Scorpions are ranked 201st).

Meanwhile, Crespi kept a clean sheet against Chatsworth on Friday. They skirted past the Chancellors 1-0.

Crespi pushed their record up to 5-1 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only given up zero goals over those four contests. As for Royal, their loss dropped their record down to 1-9-2.

Royal suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Crespi in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Can Royal avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.