Soccer Tigers crush Kuna, fall short against Nampa

The Mountain Home Tigers came away with a split of boys soccer games last week, beating Kuna at Kuna and losing to Nampa at home.

Mountain Home 4, Kuna 1

Mountain Home had its way at Kuna last Tuesday, beating the Kavemen, 4-1.

Raif Armstrong scored two goals, Francisco Dominguez and Lucas Marsh also scored goals. Tyson Gibbons had an assist. Fernando Salas had six saves on goal.

"Kuna's young, and we played well," said Tiger boys soccer coach Paul Walsh of the win.

Nampa 5, Mountain Home 4

The Nampa Bulldogs built up a 5-2 lead on the Tigers, then hung on for a 5-4 win Thursday at Eastside Park in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home spotted the Bulldogs a goal early, but bounced back with goals by Raif Armstrong and Casey Pehlke to take a 2-1 lead. Nampa then scored three more goals to take a 4-2 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs added another goal early in the second half to up their lead to 5-2 before Raif Armstrong led a Tiger comeback with two goals in the closing minutes to make it a 5-4 final.

Raif Armstrong ended with three goals. Casey Pehlke had one and Jalen Gibbons had an assist. Fernando Salas had seven saves on goal.

"I kind of figured Nampa was going to be tough," said Coach Walsh. "They played well, and we weren't on our game completely, but I'm proud of the guys. They never gave up and they went hard to the very end, so that's encouraging.

"We've got a couple nagging injuries that kind of set us off-kilter, but we played hard and had our chances."

The Tigers are 4-3 on the season and 4-2 in conference play.

Mountain Home hosted Bishop Kelly on Monday and start its second time around through conference today, traveling to Emmett to face the Huskies.