Soccer Game Preview: Albany vs. Richmond

Albany is 0-8-2 against Richmond since April of 2021 but things could change on Wednesday. The Albany Cougars will venture away from home to challenge the Richmond Oilers at 6:00 p.m. Albany's defense has only allowed 0.3 goals per game this season, so Richmond's offense will have their work cut out for them.

Albany took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. Their defense stepped up to hand Salesian College Preparatory a 2-0 shutout. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 268th, while the Pride are ranked 646th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Lucca Sweet Zapata and Armando Ramirez scored both of Albany's goals, which were season-firsts for both players.

Meanwhile, Richmond had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2 goals) and they went ahead and made it five on Saturday. They walked away with a 2-0 victory over the Cowboys. That's two games straight that the Oilers have won by exactly two goals.

Albany pushed their record up to 5-1-3 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored nine goals over those three contests. As for Richmond, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2-4.