An Ontario player kicks the ball down field. The Ontario Tigers played a tough game against Payette. (The Enterprise/Joe Siess)
VALE – The Nyssa Bulldogs and the Ontario Tigers are having a busy week in soccer.
On Monday, the Tigers won a non-league home game 10-0 over Payette. The Lady Tigers, who hosted Payette, lost 5-4.
Javier Gonzalez, the Ontario girls soccer coach, said the girls did well despite being tired from a long trip last weekend to McLoughlin High in Milton-Freewater.
“Payette came to play,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said that he expects next Saturday’s league game against Baker to be a good matchup.
Both the girls and the boys won their league games against Mac-Hi last Saturday. The girls won 4-0 and the boys won 3-1.
The coach lauded the girls’ play. Briona Romayor scored three goals and Deisy Montoya scored one.
“It was a hard battle for sure,” Gonzalez said.
The boys win on Saturday saw the return of Greg Rodriguez, who had been out of the mix last year after having surgery on his ankle.
Back on the field, he scored all three of the team’s goals, noted boys coach Jaime Gonzalez.
Rodriguez pulled “a nice hat trick,” the coach said. “He’s back with the vengeance, and he’s hungry. That’s for sure.”
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Nyssa on the road
Last Saturday Nyssa’s Lady Bulldogs lost a non-league game 1-6 to McCall on the road. The boys also fell, 1-3.
The Bulldogs played their second league game against Ukiah/Long Creek Sept. 19, winning 12-0.
Coach Steven Escobedo said that he put a lot of the younger players in the game to give them a chance at some game time in the lopsided win.
“Our goal for the game was to improve our ball movement and improve our passing,” Escobedo said.
Freshmen Noe Montes Perfecto, Rafael Rivera Ruiz, Elias Lazo, sophomore Ivan Young and junior Javier Castro scored goals in that game.
“The game the other night, they were kind of putting together what we were practicing,” Escobedo said. “There was a little bit more buy-in from the team in what we’ve been doing and what we want to do.”
Have a news tip? Reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 541-473-3377.
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