The Albany Cougars will venture away from home to face off against the Pinole Valley Spartans at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Pinole Valley better have a healthy lead at halftime, because if last week is any indication, that's when Albany really get things going. Albany's defense stepped up to hand Richmond a 4-0 shutout on Wednesday. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California soccer rankings (they are ranked 338th, while the Oilers are ranked 857th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Pinole Valley made easy work of De Anza on Wednesday and carried off a 3-0 victory. Considering the Spartans have won four matchups by more than two goals this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Giselle Morales-Cortez and Chantelle Tejada scored all three of Pinole Valley's goals, bringing their combined season tally to nine goals.
Albany is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which lines up perfectly with their 4-1-1 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they scored 26 goals over those four games. As for Pinole Valley, their win bumped their record up to 5-3-1.
Albany beat Pinole Valley by a goal when the teams last played back in December of 2024, winning 3-2. The rematch might be a little tougher for Albany since the squad won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
