Soccer Game Preview: Walden Grove vs. Ironwood Ridge

The Walden Grove Red Wolves will head out on the road to square off against the Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.

Ironwood Ridge will be up against a hot Walden Grove team: the squad just extended their winning streak to five. Walden Grove never let Sahuarita onto the board and left with a 4-0 victory on Friday. Give the Red Wolves' defense some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.

Meanwhile, Ironwood Ridge hasn't lost a match since December 5, 2024, a trend which continued in their latest game on Friday. They put the hurt on Amphitheater with a sharp 6-1 win. Given the Nighthawks' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona soccer rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while the Panthers are ranked 159th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Ironwood Ridge has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-1-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 29 goals over those seven contests. As for Walden Grove, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2.

Walden Grove came up short against Ironwood Ridge in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, falling 3-1. Can Walden Grove avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.