The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The WP Tigers won the seasonopening soccer jamboree in Dayton last Wednesday, but not as convincingly as last year.

The friendly late-summer competition between the teams from Dayton, Waitsburg-Prescott and Walla Walla Valley Academy saw improved performances from the other two teams, though neither one managed to score against the 2011 Tigers in the 95-degree heat.

The Tigers beat WWVA 3-0 and went 6-0 against Dayton, a team they beat 19-0 last season.

The WWVA Knights beat Dayton 2-1 in the first game.

The Bulldogs took some decent shots on goal at the outset with Marshall Nechodom and Gabe Garcia breaking through WWVA defenses without converting.

Goalie Willie Weppler came out of his box to save a dangerous run on his goal by cutting off a striker with 11:20 to go in the first 20-minute period. A foul on midfielder Courtney Fuller gave the Bulldogs a free kick, but the team did not convert.

Defender Junior Dedloff, who otherwise performed well on defense, let a Knights striker through who scored with 3:30 left in the game to put WWVA ahead, 1-0.

Dayton came back when Nechodom took a high-arcing shot on goal, which the WWVA keeper caught at first then fumbled behind the goal line for the equalizer two minutes before the end of the first half. The Bulldogs struggled with possession during the second half.

About six minutes into the game, a Knights striker broke free and popped the ball over Weppler for WWVA's winning goal.

Dayton kept the pressure on for the remainder of the game with Garcia and Adam Strohbehn taking shots on goal. Fuller also threatened the Knights' defenses on more than one occasion, but didn't break through for a scoring opportunity.

In the meet's second game, WP took its first shot on goal about five minutes into the first half but Ernesto Valdovinos' attempt went just above the crossbar.

Several minutes later, the same striker was tackled in the penalty box and sophomore Lino Diaz took the kick about threequarter left for the Tigers' first score.

Again on the attack with fewer than 10 minutes to go, Diaz ran into the Knights' defense but passed to Valdovinos who scored his team's second goal.

Five minutes into the second half, Francisco Gonzalez took a shot on the Knights' goal that flew over the crossbar by less than a foot.

A few minutes later, Diaz received a pass his chipped past the WWVA goalie for the Tigers' third goal .

W P's Diaz scored against the Bulldogs less than a minute into the third game, while Gonzalez put his team up 2-0, then 3-0, before the first period was halfway over.

Weppler stood his ground several times, once taking a hard shot straight in the chest and once tipping a shot backwards over the crossbar. The Bulldogs' defense tightened significantly during for the remainder of the first half, denying the Tigers any more scoring chances.

During the second half, Dayton came out hustling harder, threatening several times, but the Tigers showed their superior ball control and finesse.

Diaz scored again with a high-curving shot around the Dayton defense and into Weppler's far corner to put his team up, 4-0.

Al though Dayton struggled with communication and passing, several players blocked the Tigers' scoring chances, including Blake Powell, who stopped a hard shot on goal.

Tigers scored twice more, with the last goal coming from senior Kevin Ortega, who broke through for a solo shot.