Soccer Game Preview: Bluffton vs. Gatlinburg-Pittman

The Bluffton Bobcats will face off against the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Gatlinburg-Pittman will challenge a team with plenty of momentum: Bluffton extended their winning streak to three on Tuesday. The Bobcats put the hurt on Hardeeville with a sharp 5-1 win. With Bluffton ahead 4-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.

They hit Hardeeville with a four-pronged attack, as the team got scores from Eder Chavelas (2), Emiliano Bernal, Alexis Hernandez, and Michael Chirinos.

Meanwhile, Gatlinburg-Pittman came tearing into Tuesday's contest with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7 goals), and they left with even more momentum. Their defense stepped up to hand the Panthers a 9-0 shutout. Given Gatlinburg-Pittman's advantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee soccer rankings (they are ranked 53rd, while Cumberland Gap are ranked 305th) , the win wasn't entirely unexpected.

Gatlinburg-Pittman's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-4-1. Those home wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 25 goals over those three matchups. As for Bluffton, their victory bumped their record up to 10-5.