Matador soccer faces No. 2 Yavapai

Coming off a comfortable win over South Mountain, the Arizona Western soccer team is going to have their hands full.

The No. 6 Matadors (8-1 overall, 8-1 in Arizona Community College Athletic Conference) head to Prescott to take on undefeated No. 2 Yavapai at 6 p.m. today.

“Every game is important,” Matador coach Kenny Dale said. “If you slip up, you could drop halfway down the standings.”

The Matadors are currently in second place and the Roughriders (9-0, overall 9-0 in ACCAC) are in first. Both teams are coming off big wins against South Mountain — the Matadors won 6-0 on Monday and the Roughriders beat them 10-0 on Tuesday.

“It's definitely going to be a barometer for where we're at and how we're doing,” Dale said.

While the Matadors and sophomore goalkeeper Oscar Hernandez already have six shutouts on the season, the high-powered Roughrider offense is going to put that to the test. Against South Mountain, Julien Dragomir and Alex Harlley each scored three goals — one of Harlley's goals came just five seconds into the second half. Mario Soto leads the Matadors with eight goals on the season and Francisco Ramirez has seven.

Last season, Yavapai defeated the Matadors 2-1 in Prescott and the two tied 2-2 in their meeting at Arizona Western.