Tigers are Back!

YAKIMA - With al­most its full complement of returning starters, the WP Tigers Tuesday posted its first regular-season win over Riverside Christian, beating the Crusaders 4-0 on their home turf.

Barely 5 minutes into regulation time, midfielder Paul Zamora scored on an assist from Ernesto Valdovi­no, who got one for his team himself 12 minutes into the second half on an assist from Luis Garcia.

Unassisted, Garcia gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the 79th minute, followed 2 minutes later by the fourth goal from teammate Ivan Figueroa with another assist from Valdovino.

Assistant coach Jay Potts credited goalie Christian Caro with 15 saves during the game. Caro's perfor­mance Tuesday resembled his stance in defense of the net on Friday when the Ti­gers hosted the other River­side school from Boardman, Ore.

But without many of its starters from last year due to their initial ineligibility, Friday's score was a differ­ent story. The younger, less experienced bench players did their utmost to fend off the much more seasoned Pirates, but succumbed in the end 8-2 in the afternoon heat.

"I'm completely im­pressed and proud by what we did," assistant coach Jay Potts said about the bench. "But our core just wore out."

WP was off to a good start during the first half against Boardman, going into half time ahead 2-1 on scores from sophomore Ro­drigo Gonzalez in the 15th minutes (with an assist from Valdovino) and freshman striker Figueroa in the 35th minute (again with an assist from Valdovino. Riverside scored in the 20th minute.

But despite 15 saves from freshman goalie Caro, the WP players could not keep pace with the dominant Pirates who managed to put the ball in the Tigers' net seven times after half time, scoring in the 43rd, 47th, 49th, 72nd, 74th, 79th and 80th minutes of the game.

"That's when the wheels fell off," Potts said. "The majority of the game we were playing defense. Riv­erside controlled the ball and the tempo. It is what it is."

The good news is that the younger players, such as freshman Oscar Gonzalez and sophomore Trey Potts, "got a lot of quality playing time against a very expe­rienced team. They aren't going to play in a lot of key games, but right then they had to play."

On Wednesday, many of the same players warmed up against Dayton and Walla Walla Valley Academy dur­ing the traditional, season- opening jamboree in Day­ton.

The Tigers beat the WWVA Knights 2-0 and the Bulldogs 6-1. Potts cred­ited much of those games' success to junior Valdo­vino, who scored both goals against the Knights and two of the six against Dayton.

Junior Jose Pananigue was equally important at the jamboree and the game against Riverside. The "mid­dle middle" defender, also known as a "sweeper," stops and redistributes the ball for the Tigers.

"When he's not on the field, we don't do very well," Potts said.