Boys soccer team wins first three matches

The Mountain Home Tigers boys soccer team got off to a 3-0 start last week, wining all three soccer matches they played.

Mountain Home 4

Caldwell Cougars 1

Mountain Home opened its boys soccer season with an SIC 4A conference win over the Caldwell Cougars on Aug. 29 at Mountain Home.

Marcos Ortiz scored three goals and Birian Weiss scored one in the win. Nick Gula had an assist, and Aaron Swartz had 14 saves on goal as goal keeper.

"We started out really good and were just pounding them, going straight down and having some quality passing, and intensity was high, and then we started to slack off, but then the last 15 to 20 minutes of the second half we started checking and working together," said Tiger boys soccer coach Andrew Kerr.

Mountain Home 4

Payette Pirates 1

Four different Tigers scored goals in their 4-1 non-conference win over Payette at home on Aug. 30.

Reza Mesmarin scored one goal and had two assists, Marc Marcositt scored a goal, Marcos Ortiz scored a goal, and Kyle Hall also scored a goal for the Tigers.

Goalkeeper Aaron Swartz recorded 17 saves on the day.

"We played pretty well together as a team. We had four different (players) scoring, so they played pretty solid as a team," said Coach Kerr.

Mountain Home 3

Fruitland 0

The Tigers improved to 3-0 on the season last Thursday with a 3-0 shutout win over the Fruitland Grizzlies in non-conference soccer. Marcos Ortiz scored two goals, Marcos Schmitt, one, and Aaron Swartz had 20 saves on goal.

"They played decent," said Coach Kerr. "It was a rough game from my standpoint, because Fruitland came out to play and it was evident when they stepped on the field, and we were just waking up, it seemed like, and it took us a while to get going.

"Once we got going, we started playing real well together. Our goal keeper (Aaron Swartz) has played outstanding for all three games, we just need to start putting it together on offense so we can score more.

"We're still a little rough around the edges, bit it's coming together. Hopefully, by the time we get to districts, it'll be good for us."

The Tigers traveled to Vallivue yesterday (Tuesday) to face the Falcons in conference soccer. They host Kuna tomorrow (Thursday) and Jerome on Friday.