Soccer Game Preview: Pitman vs. Merced

The Pitman Pride will take on the Merced Bears in a holiday battle at at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Pitman has four straight victories, Merced has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the pitch.

Pitman's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They walked away with a 2-0 win over East Union. Given the Pride's advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Lancers are ranked 178th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Merced's offense. They came up short against Manteca on Friday, falling 3-0.

Pitman pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only given up zero goals over those three contests. As for Merced, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-4.

Pitman was able to grind out a solid win over Merced in their previous matchup back in December of 2019, winning 2-0. Does Pitman have another victory up their sleeve, or will Merced turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.