Soccer Game Preview: Salida vs. James Irwin + How To Watch

The Salida Spartans will head out to challenge the James Irwin Jaguars at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Salida is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last eight games.

If James Irwin heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Salida took over last week. The Spartans walked away with a 3-1 victory over The Vanguard School on Monday. That's two games straight that Salida have won by exactly two goals.

Hawkin Sather and Sam Jones scored all three of Salida's goals, bringing their combined season tally to eight goals.

Meanwhile, James Irwin managed to keep up with Manitou Springs until halftime on Tuesday, but things quickly went downhill from there. The Jaguars lost 6-0 to the Mustangs. While losing is never fun, James Irwin can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado soccer rankings (they are ranked 209th, while Manitou Springs are ranked 93rd).

Salida's win bumped their record up to 10-1. As for James Irwin, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-7-1.

Salida took their victory against James Irwin when the teams last played back in October of 2024 by a conclusive 6-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Spartans since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.