Soccer Game Preview: Mendota vs. Sunnyside

The Mendota Aztecs and the Sunnyside Wildcats will compete for holiday cheer at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

If Sunnyside heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Mendota took over last week. Mendota blew past Riverdale 4-1 on Tuesday. Given the Aztecs' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 63rd, while the Cowboys are ranked 209th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mendota hit Riverdale with a three-pronged attack, as the team got scores from Wilberto Amador (2), Neri Arteaga, and Erlin Gomez.

Meanwhile, Sunnyside kept a clean sheet against Orosi on Friday. They put the hurt on the Cardinals with a sharp 3-0 win. That's two games straight that the Wildcats have won by exactly three goals.

Sunnyside's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-2. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only given up zero goals over those four contests. As for Mendota, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2-2 record this season.