Soccer Game Preview: Center vs. Mira Loma

The Center Cougars will face off against the Mira Loma Matadors at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Center is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 2.7 goals per game this season.

Center is headed into the contest having not lost since December 27 and will look to keep things rolling. They came out on top against Wheatland by a score of 3-1 on Friday. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 359th, while the Pirates are ranked 1090th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Bahram Babak and Asmatullah Rahimi scored all three of Center's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 14 goals.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Mira Loma). They never let Bear River onto the board and left with an 11-0 victory on Friday. Winning may never get old, but the Matadors sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.

Center's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-2-3. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only given up one goal over those three matchups. As for Mira Loma, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4-2 record this season.

Everything went Center's way against Mira Loma when the teams last played back in December of 2024, as Center made off with a 3-0 victory. Does Center have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mira Loma turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.