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Lady Tigers dominate field as soccer season continues
by Stevie Carr
Special to the Mountain Home News
The Lady Tigers continued to demonstrate their strength on offense as they dominated the field against Vallivue with their defense making a difference as they battled Skyview, Emmett and Ridgeview as the girls varsity soccer action continued this month.
Mountain Home 6, Vallivue 3
Down by one early in the opening half, the Lady Tigers fought back to tie the score before taking the lead as they beat Vallivue on Aug. 30.
Vallivue's first score fired up the Lady Tigers as senior Jacey Carr took a break away straight to the goal to tie the score. The Lady Falcons tried playing a high defense against the Lady Tigers, which gave Mountain Home multiple off sides and break always.
Senior Nikki Milford took the ball to the outside and crossed over to junior Gisselle Raddatz for an easy goal, with the Tigers going up, 2-1. But Vallivue came right back to knot the score.
Carr, serving as center forward, waited for the exact second to make another breakaway, putting the Tigers ahead by one at the half.
The second half saw a little different game. Senior Elizabeth Ryan was determined that Vallivue was not going to get into her end of the field. Giving the ball the boot, Ryan gave senior Violet Martinez the opportunity for another fast-break goal.
After a few back-and-forth plays, Martinez sent another ball to senior Anna Pedroza, who took the Tigers in for one more goal. However, Vallivue once again answered with another of its own.
With the Lady Tigers once again in the lead, senior Jordan Page rounded out Mountain Home's scoring with the team's final goal.
Mountain Home 1, Skyview 1
For the players on the field, it was no secret that Lady Tigers and the Skyview Lady Hawks have no love loss for each other. With Mountain Home having home field advantage Sept. 1, that rivalry seemed to extend into the bleachers as large numbers of fans gathered in what appeared to be the most attended girls soccer game in recent memory.
The Lady Tigers were not about to let that crowd down as they battled Skyview to a 1-1 tie that afternoon. Strong defense on both sides kept the scoring low as the players tried to hit the goal.
Early in the opening half, the Lady Tigers took the first shot at the goal, which missed the target. They found success 29 minutes into the half as senior Jordan Page took a shot from 30 feet out with the crowd going crazy as the ball hit the net.
Minutes later, Skyview came back with its own response to knot the score at 1-1.
With 8:50 left in the second half, senior goal keeper Tayde Rodriguez made a key save to deny the Lady Hawks the go-ahead goal. Three minutes later, Anna Pedroza took a shot that hit the cross bar with the Lady Tigers convinced that they had made the go-ahead goal.
However, the referee ruled that it wasn't a goal, prompting the Lady Tigers to protest the call. The referee's ruling stood with the game ending in a tie.
Mountain Home 2, Emmett 0
Emmett played an all-defense game, making for a pretty slow moving game as they faced the Lady Tigers on Sept. 6. Senior Violet Martinez finally got a fast break to put Tigers up, 1-0.
The second half was a repeat of the first with Martinez making the score 2-0, giving Tigers the win. Freshmen Elizabeth Bearden had seven saves in the goal.
Mountain Home 2, Ridgeview 2
Down by two at the half, the Lady Tigers took advantage of the crowd's enthusiasm and home field advantage as they tied against Ridgeview on Thursday.
Mountain Home had a slow start with Ridgeview scoring in the first 20 minutes of the match. A second goal went in just before half after a ball was deflected off a Mountain Home player, which hit the post and went in.
The Lady Tigers came back fired up after halftime with the players coming back with a whole new attitude. Senior Elizabeth Ryan moved to midfielder from her normal position on defense and took the ball down with a pass to Martinez, who put one in the goal.
With the score now 1-2, the crowd was fired up and was credited with having a huge impact on the girls' energy. Ryan took a shot on goal that was deflected by Ridgeview's goalie, setting up a corner that was kicked by Martinez.
Martinez sent the ball in to senior Jacey Carr, who headed in the ball to knot the score at 2.
But the Lady Tigers weren't ready to quit. Senior Anna Pedroza sent in another shot that Ridgeview's goalie knocked away.
Martinez took another corner kick as Mountain Home continued to battle. However, one referee called a dangerous play call after Ridgeview's goalie went down. At that point, the clock ran out, leaving the score tied.
Senior Tayde Rodriguez had one save in the goal while Bearden had three.