Soccer Game Preview: Mission Oak vs. Tulare Western

The Mission Oak Hawks will challenge the Tulare Western Mustangs at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Mission Oak is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last three games.

Mission Oak's defense heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They rang in the new year with a 2-0 win over Wasco. Given the Hawks' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 80th, while the Tigers are ranked 410th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Alexander Gutierrez was the driving force of Mission Oak's attack as he scored both of Mission Oak's goals, bringing his season total up to seven goals.

Meanwhile, Tulare Western has been on a difficult stretch since their win on December 14. Neither they nor Madera could gain the upper hand on Friday so the two teams had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Mission Oak is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2-1 record this season. Tulare Western's draw gives them a new season record of 4-7-4.