Soccer Game Preview: El Cerrito vs. Bethel

The El Cerrito Gauchos will take on the Bethel Jaguars at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (El Cerrito has three straight victories, Bethel has nine straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the pitch.

El Cerrito's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. Everything went their way against De Anza as El Cerrito made off with a 9-0 win. Emily Murff was a massive factor in the win as she booted in three goals all by herself.

El Cerrito used a slightly different lineup for their bout with De Anza. And. Mikaela Green made the most of the opportunity, scoring a goal A few more games like that and she might be seeing even more time going forward.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Bethel faced off against Saint Mary's on Tuesday. Bethel lost 12-0 to Saint Mary's. While losing is never fun, the Jaguars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 1012th, while the Panthers are ranked 220th).

Bethel's loss dropped their record down to 0-9. As for El Cerrito, their victory bumped their record up to 5-2-1.

El Cerrito took their win against Bethel in their previous meeting back in December of 2024 by a conclusive 11-2. In that contest, El Cerrito amassed a halftime lead of 8-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.