Soccer Game Preview: Palma vs. Stevenson

The Palma Chieftains will head out to face off against the Stevenson Pirates at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Palma has four straight victories, Stevenson has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the pitch.

Palma's defense heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They had just enough and edged Pajaro Valley out 1-0. Given the Chieftains' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while the Grizzlies are ranked 730th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Stevenson came up short against King City on Thursday and fell 4-2. That's two games in a row now that the Pirates have lost by exactly two goals.

Palma pushed their record up to 12-3-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 14 goals over those four contests. As for Stevenson, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-10-3.

Palma skirted past Stevenson 3-2 when the teams last played back in January. The rematch might be a little tougher for Palma since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.