Soccer Game Preview: Banning vs. Palos Verdes

The Banning Pilots will take on the Palos Verdes Sea Kings in a holiday battle at at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Banning took a loss when they played away from home on December 5th, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed two weeks ago. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Lakewood 2-1.

Meanwhile, Palos Verdes put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. Their defense stepped up to hand Peninsula a 3-0 shutout. Given the Sea Kings' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked eighth, while the Panthers are ranked 170th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Banning now has a winning record of 2-1-2. As for Palos Verdes, their win bumped their record up to 6-0.