North High School will kick off the its season with a home game against La Joya. Both teams are fresh from participating in preseason tournaments.

North played in the 2017 Bulldog Invitational where the team won two of its three games. The victories came against Shadow Mountain (4-0) and Horizon (1-0). The only loss came against Desert Mountain (1-1 in regulation bust fell in PKs 5-4). The Mustangs' performance was not enough to advance to the second round. 

La Joya participated in the 2017 Agua Fria Soccer Invite. There, the Lobos lost against Desert Edge (3-2), Betty Fairfax (3-0) and McClintock (5-0). 

The Lobos will be looking to forget that performance in the invite with a win.

Senior Freddy Martinez, a midfielder at North, isn’t concerned about how La Joya did in the invitational.

“We wouldn’t like to set our mindset on how they performed,” Martinez said. “We have to perform at our best.”

Despite not advancing to the second round of the Bulldog invitational, senior Daniel Balderas was satisfied with his individual performance.

“I did pretty well,” Balderas said. “I gained multiple assists.”

Mustangs head coach Carlos Zubiate expressed some concern with the fact that four starters are on the "No Pass, No Play" list and therefore ineligible to play.

“It will be hard to difficult to replace those players, but we have some kids on the JV team that are hungry and looking to gain a spot on varsity,” Zubiate said. “I’m sure they will do their best to fill that void."

The Mustangs are hoping to improve upon last season where the team finished with an 8-4 record and qualified for the state playoffs. They were eliminated in the first round with a 5-0 loss to Gilbert.

“My goal is to at least make it to semifinals” stated Zubiate.