Soccer Game Preview: Cardinal Newman vs. Royal Palm Beach

The Cardinal Newman Crusaders are taking a road trip to challenge the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Cardinal Newman is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 5 goals per game this season.

Cardinal Newman is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to seven goals back in December of 2024, they were much more limited against King's Academy on Tuesday. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Lions. While losing is never fun, the Crusaders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida soccer rankings (they are ranked 144th, while the Lions are ranked 40th).

Cardinal Newman's goal came courtesy of Hayden Patton, who's now up to eight this season.

Meanwhile, Royal Palm Beach came into Thursday's contest having lost six straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They and Lake Worth finished up their game with a 3-3 draw on Thursday. The result was nothing new for the Wildcats as the team haven't won a game since December 4, 2024.

Cardinal Newman's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 6-5. Royal Palm Beach's draw gives them a new season record of 3-12-1.

Cardinal Newman came up short against Royal Palm Beach in their previous meeting back in December of 2018, falling 5-3. Can Cardinal Newman avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.