Soccer Game Preview: Santa Clara vs. Cupertino

The Santa Clara Bruins will take on the Cupertino Pioneers in a holiday battle at at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Santa Clara's last three contests have been decided by no more than a goal, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Santa Clara took a loss when they played away from home on Saturday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Monday. They skirted past Presentation 2-1. The Bruins found success even though the refs didn't miss a thing: Alexandria Schneider and Rylee Alas were both handed yellow cards.

Alicia Olguin and Reiko Yoshimura scored both of Santa Clara's goals, bringing their combined season tally to four goals.

Meanwhile, Cupertino had already won two in a row and they went ahead and made it three on Monday. Their defense stepped up to hand the Panthers a 3-0 shutout. The game marked the Pioneers' most dominant win of the season so far.

Santa Clara has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 3-1-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 12 goals over those four contests. As for Cupertino, they now have a winning record of 3-2.