Soccer Game Preview: Banning vs. Cathedral City

Banning hasn't had much luck against Cathedral City recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Banning Broncos will head out to square off against the Cathedral City Lions at 5:30 p.m. Neither squad made it on the board the last time they hit the pitch, so they've probably got a bit of extra motivation.

Banning is likely headed into the game with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Desert Mirage on Thursday. Banning fell just short of Desert Mirage by a score of 1-0. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Broncos came into the contest with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 170th, while the RAMS are ranked 683rd).

Meanwhile, Cathedral City came tearing into Tuesday's match with three straight wins and they left with even more momentum. Their defense stepped up to hand the RAMS a 1-0 shutout. That's two games straight that the Lions have won by just one goal.

Their one-goal win came courtesy of Ricardo Lopez, which was the first he's scored this season.

Cathedral City pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored eight goals over those three games. As for Banning, their defeat dropped their record down to 13-3-1.

Banning suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Cathedral City in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. Can Banning avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.