Tigers' boys and girls soccer seasons to start Friday

Mountain Home High School's boys and girls soccer squads take to the field this week to start their 2012 seasons.

The Tiger boys open their soccer season this Friday at Nampa against the Bulldogs.

Although the first fall practice started Monday, Mountain Home Tiger head boys soccer coach Jay Lockett indicates they have had a busy summer.

"It's been jam-packed with car washes and summer games and everything else," he said.

Coach Lockett says the summer program has been good to give them an opportunity for their guys to get some playing experience.

"It gave us a good scale to go by for the preseason for who plays where, and with the 13 new freshmen we have coming up, it also gives us a chance to see teamwork, and it works well together. Summertime is crucial to us because we get to see all the new players and everything else."

As young as they are, Coach Lockett is excited about the potential they have.

"I'm very excited about that. We're very young. At this point, I anticipate one starting senior -- we have four seniors total on the group at this point. We have 13 new freshmen, so a great future for soccer."

The Tiger boys open their season at 6 p.m. at Nampa on Aug. 17, and have their home opener Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. at Eastside Park against Caldwell.

Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers soccer squad open their season at home with a conference game against Nampa on Friday. Second-year coach Stephen Speak was pleased with his turnout for soccer.

"It's been great. We've got a good bunch of players. We're young, but what I will call good athletes. We have a little bit of experience back and the girls have been improving themselves and working hard the last couple years and we've got some players that consider themselves -- what I call 'footballers' -- but consider themselves soccer players who have played together a lot and jelling together pretty good."

Looking ahead to the conference season, a main concern for Coach Speak is the quality of referees they will face.

"My main concern is the referees. I've been told there's a lot of young, inexperienced referees, but hopefully they'll do a good job."

The Lady Tigers season opener starts at 6 p.m. at Eastside Park.