The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

SPOKANE - A team might win some games and lose some games, but as long as there's progress under­neath it all, there's always a reason to be optimistic.

That's the conclusion Jay Potts, assistant coach of the Waitsburg Prescott Tigers, drew after this past week's three games that put the soccer team's record about where it was last year at this time.

On Thursday, the Tigers beat the Irigon, Ore., Knights 4-1 on that team's home turf. They lost in a tough game against St. George in Spokane 6-2 Saturday and roared back with a 6-0 win over Moses Lake Christian at home in Prescott Monday, albeit in a matchup against a young 10-member team.

The game against the number one-ranked Knights this weekend was the big­gest test for the Tigers, who struggled to contain one of the best strikers in the state, Eric Muelheims.

"We made some critical defensive mistakes early and they (Dragons) made the most of them," Potts said about the 3-0 deficit the Ti­gers carried into the halftime break. "We got ourselves buried in the hole. A player like Muelheims is going to score and you have to out­score him."

After the first 10 minutes in which the two teams felt each other out, the Dragons scored in the 10th, 12th and 28th minutes. They scored again in the 46th minutes, six minutes into the second half, and didn't allow the Tigers to penetrate until Ernesto Vado­vinos finally lifted his team's spirit with a goal in the 72nd minute.

Comeback hopes, how­ever, evaporated quickly, dashed five minutes later when St. George broke down the Tigers defense again for their sixth score. Ivan Figueroa struck a second goal on an assist from Jose Pananigue, but it was too late to reverse his team's fortunes in Spokane.

"We played hard and well," Potts said. "But for some reason, we couldn't find a way through. We got some good looks in the sec­ond half, but their sixth goal was the nail in the coffin for us. We can beat them. They were just better that day."

Still, WP had its moments, particularly the second-half attack that resulted in the Ti­gers' second goal. The play that preceded it was right out of the team's practice runs with Pananigue passing to Valdovinos, who ran into too much opposition and passed it back to Pananigue who found Figueroa open for a strike on the Dragons' goal.

"It was great to watch," Potts said.

The loss against St. George was sandwiched between two wins. The first on Thursday came after the Tigers launched a vol­ley of strikes resulting in three goals, starting with Figueroa's strike in the very first minute on an assist from Valdovinos. Luis Gar­cia scored in the 3rd min­ute, assisted by Johnny Es­calante. Three minutes later, Figueroa scored again with helped from Pananigue.

"We came to play," Potts said.

The Knights managed a point in the 63rd minute, but Garcia put an end that debate with an unassisted goal in the 72nd minute. Goalie Chris­tian Caro had 7 saves - about half of his usual performance thanks to a predominance of activity on the other half of the field.

"He didn't have to work that hard," Potts said.

After the break, the Knights made tactical adjust­ments to their defense, which shut down the Tigers' run up the middle.

"We didn't counter ad­just," the assistant coach said about his team's drought of goals during a portion of the second half. The Tigers nonetheless managed 25 shots on goal for the game.

Monday night's lop-sided win over Moses Lake gave the Tigers' bench a chance to see some playing time. The Lions brought only 10 play­ers, including four 8th grad­ers, tipping the balance to the much more seniors Tigers.

Figueroa scored first on an assist from Luis Garcia in the 3rd minute, followed in the 4th minute by a goal from Garcia with help from Valdivinos. Then Garcia and Rodrigo Gonzalez scored back to back in the 19th min­ute with assists from each other. Alberto Sandoval put away the fifth goal in the 37th minute just before half time and before the bench took the field.

After the break, Tiger Emily Wilson scored on a hustle play to make it 6-0, to the delight of fans and players. A shot from Alberto Mendoza ricocheted off the Lions' keeper and while he scrambled after the ball on hands and knees, Wilson swept in to drill the ball into the back of the net.