Soccer Game Preview: Yankton vs. Washington

The Yankton Bucks/Gazelles are taking a road trip to face off against the Washington Warriors at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Neither squad made it on the board the last time they hit the pitch, so they've probably got a bit of extra motivation.

Yankton is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of South Dakota's top teams: Aberdeen Central, who was ranked eighth at the time (Yankton was ranked seventh). The Bucks/Gazelles took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Golden Eagles on Saturday. That makes it the first time this season Yankton have let down their home crowd.

Washington had taken Brookings down for two straight games at home, but that winning streak came to an end on Tuesday. The Warriors fell just short of the Bobcats by a score of 2-1. That's two games in a row now that Washington have lost by just one goal.

Washington now has a losing record of 4-5-2. As for Yankton, their loss dropped their record down to 7-3-3.

Yankton skirted past Washington 2-1 when the teams last played back in September of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bucks/Gazelles since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.