Soccer Tigers roar at Emmett, fall short at Skyview, Jerome

Raif Armstrong fights for possession of the ball as the Mountain Home Tigers compete during the opening week of this year's soccer season.

The Mountain Home Tigers boys soccer team opened its season with a win over Emmett last week, before dropping road games at Skyview and Jerome.

Tigers 5, Emmett 1

The Mountain Home Tigers won their boys soccer home opener last Monday, beating Emmett 5-1 in SIC 4A soccer.

Mountain Home shot out to a 3-0 lead at halftime and added two more goals in the second half for the 5-1 win.

"That was a real good win," said Tiger boys soccer coach Paul Walsh after the game. "I don't think we've had an opening season win in a while, and what better place to do it than right here at home. We had great fan turnout."

Raif Armstrong had two goals and two assists, Tyson Gibbons had two goals and one assist, Jalen Gibbons had a goal, and Casey Pehlke had an assist. Fernando Salas had 16 saves on goal.

Skyview 3, Tigers 1

Mountain Home continued its problems with Skyview, losing to the Hawks last Wednesday at Skyview 3-1.

Raif Armstrong scored Mountain Home's lone goal. Fernando Salas had 14 saves on goal.

Coach Walsh thought his Tigers had a good effort against Skyview.

"They're not as good as they've been in the past, but obviously they're still a good team. Our guys really, really played great.

"They played together, they kept each other up, we had great passing. Our midfield was a little weak, but I think that was just the competition was a little stiffer. Coming out of that Emmett game the guys had a lot of confidence and that was a good thing, but Skyview was a good thing, too. It gave us a little wake-up call and showed us we've still got some work to do, and they stepped it up, so that was an encouraging thing."

Jerome 10, Tigers 0

Mountain Home found the going rough at Jerome Friday, losing to the Jerome Tigers, 10-0. Mountain Home had just four shots on goal the whole game against Jerome.

"Our guys were flat," said Coach Walsh. "I started a new lineup, since it was a non-conference game, and that kind of threw them off, but Jerome has really improved over last year. Right now, they're the best team in the state."

Mountain Home lost its starting goal-keeper Fernando Salas in the first half when he rolled an ankle. Walsh was pleased with the effort Tomas Guillen did coming up off the J.V. squad to fill in. The Jerome loss dropped Mountain Home to 1-2 on the season. The Tigers were at Columbia on Monday, and travel to Middleton today (Wednesday).