Soccer Game Preview: Rifle vs. Montezuma-Cortez

The Rifle Bears are taking a road trip to challenge the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Thursday just wasn't the day for Rifle's offense. They lost 5-0 to Vail Mountain on Thursday. Rifle have struggled against Vail Mountain recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive lost meeting.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Montezuma-Cortez). Their defense stepped up to hand Bayfield a 9-0 shutout on Tuesday. With that win, Montezuma-Cortez brought their scoring average up to 3.5 goals per game.

They hit Bayfield with a four-pronged attack, as the team got scores from Mia Glazner (3), Di'Nya Manuel (3), Jordlan Mahler (2), and Kyndall Schmitt.

The victory made it two in a row for Montezuma-Cortez and bumps their season record up to 4-1-1. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 12 goals over those two games. As for Rifle, their loss dropped their record down to 3-3.

Rifle was able to grind out a solid victory over Montezuma-Cortez in their previous matchup back in April of 2022, winning 2-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bears since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.