EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers and Soap Lake Eagles started their soccer seasons off on a windy Thursday evening in Ephrata where the Tigers earned a 9-2 victory. Both teams are coming into the season with high expectations for themselves as they look ahead to the coming months of competition.  

“It was a good first game, we came out trying to control possession and control the tempo of the game. We knew that would get us goals,” said Tigers Head Coach Ivan Garay. “It took us a little bit to get there, but once we got the first one, we were able to keep them going.” 

The matchup was high-energy from the start as both teams put pressure on each other’s goals early on. Ephrata began to gain momentum as the first half rolled on, with the Tigers keeping pressure on the opposing side of the field and the offense putting in five goals by the end of the first 40 minutes while holding the Eagles scoreless.  

The Tigers continued their offensive push in the second half and knocked in four more points. The Eagles battled through and put in a goal early in the second half and another late in the game but were unable to close the gap by the end of the matchup. 

Throughout the duration of the game, the teams cycled out their players to ensure everyone got varsity playing time for the first game of the season. 

“The boys played hard, man. The scoreboard didn’t show how much effort and love they have for the game.” said Eagles Head Coach Tony O'Neel. “It was a tough one, but they kept fighting. Adversity’s going to come and we’re just going to bounce off this game and see how next week goes.” 

With the season just starting out for the Eagles, O'Neel said the only goal for Soap Lake is to work at getting better each day. After having an easy schedule last season, this year, the coach wants to push his players to face harder teams, which is exactly what they did Thursday evening against the Tigers. 

“This was a good game to show them what a good team looks like and I want to make our opponents tougher,” said the Eagles coach. “Last year we played a lot of JVs and (the Eagles) were on top of the world, so I wanted to make it harder for them and just get better as a team.” 

O'Neel said he was incredibly proud in the effort that the Eagles gave Thursday. Despite being down in score, each Soap Lake player continued to give their all on the field. 

The Eagles have a few star players returning to the roster this season, but their top player, sophomore Albeiro Reyes, is out with an ACL tear after playing club soccer with Quincy United in the offseason. Soap Lake is still supported by strong players such as freshman Nazar Goloborodko and junior Damien Jimenez who are already showing leadership qualities on the team. 

As the Eagles move on with the season, O’Neel said they are going to focus on tightening their defensive shift and ensure that when one player is pressuring, another is covering the back. Offensively, he wants the team to start attacking the sidelines and avoiding playing through the heart of the opposing defense. 

Garay said he is satisfied with how the Tigers came out in game one with good, positive energy between the players, but there were a couple things defensively that the Tigers need to work on as they prepare for the season ahead. 

“We made a couple of mistakes and they cost us,” he said. “That’s a big thing that we just can’t let happen, especially because we know that it’s a tough season and we’re going to have tough opponents. We can’t let our own mistakes cost us goals.” 

As the Tigers prepare for the season ahead, one of their early season goals is they want to be a defensive team and go into every game with a defensive mindset and prevent goals, said the Tigers coach. Ephrata is also pushing to be a team that controls the pace of the game, which will be essential in a tough league like the Central Washington Athletic Conference. 

When looking at the competition for the CWAC, Garay said the Tigers will have to score over three goals a game to stay at the top of the league.  

“Those things we started off well with (Thursday) and it’s a good place to be after game one,” he said.  

The Tigers are entering this season with a strong senior-led core of Avian Soto, Junior Chavez, and Tony Hernandez along with juniors Fernando Ramirez and Diego Pichardo who are coming in with good experience and helping tie everything together, said Garay. As Ephrata moves forward with the season, the coach expects the players to become even more conditioned. 

“After game one we feel we’re on track to be where we want to be, but we know we’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “We want to keep building after every game and after every practice.” 

Ephrata hosted Tonasket at noon Saturday, where they were victorious 2-0 and extending their undefeated start to the season. 

The Tigers next game will be on the road Tuesday against Bridgeport at 4 p.m. and the Eagles are set to go on the road to face Tonasket Wednesday at 4 p.m. 

BOX SCORE:  

SPLK: 0-2: 2 

EPHT: 5-4: 9 

ROSTERS 

EPHRATA TIGERS 

Name, Jersey, Grade 

Isaac Blancas, 0, 10 

Ricky Alvarez, 1, 12 

Manny Mejia Chavez, 2, 12 

Ivan Perez, 3, 11 

Douglas Benavidez, 5, 10 

Diego Pichardo, 6, 11 

Damian Santa Cruz, 7, 12 

Julian, Blancas, 8, 9 

Yahizee Alvarado, 9, 10 

Avian Soto, 10, 12 

Fernando Ramirez, 11, 11 

Eli Cornejo, 13, 9 

Daniel Grodeyev, 14, 11 

Michael Medrano, 15, 11 

Rafael Jimenez, 16, 10 

Junior Chavez, 17, 12 

Jason Aleman, 18, 12 

Tony Hernandez, 19, 12 

Ruben Ramirez, 20, 12 

Damian Alvarez, 21, 10 

SOAP LAKE EAGLES 

Name, Jersey, Grade 

Jimmy Cervantes, 1, 9 

Isaias Villalva, 2, 9 

Mark Sushik, 3, 9 

Isaiah Knowlton, 4, 8 

Rob Aldana, 5, 10 

Izaiah Coppenbarger, 6, 9 

Andrii Dymtriienko, 7, 9 

David Kriuchkov, 8, 9 

Savva Sochirca, 9, 10 

Albeiro Reyes, 10, 10 

Damian Jimenez, 11, 11 

Andres Lopez, 12, 11 

Lenny Campos, 13, 12 

Gavin Johnson, 14, 8 

Sammy Pacheco, 15, 9 

Angel Abarca, 19, 10 

Ivan Lutsenko, 20, 8 

Emanuel Chuprin, 21, 10 

Moises Cortes, 22, 10 

Nazar Goloborodko, 23, 9 

Manny Castello, 25, 10 

Brayan Sandoval, 27, 10 

Chris Heaps, 30, 11

    Tigers senior Tony Hernandez gears up to nail in a penalty kick during Thursday’s game against the Eagles.
  

    Eagles junior Damian Jimenez sends the ball flying across the field against the Tigers Thursday evening.
  

    Avian Soto, a senior for Ephrata, runs toward the ball while looking to pass to a teammate against Soap Lake.
  

    Andrii Dymtriienko, a freshman from Soap Lake, runs alongside the ball and makes a strong push into Tigers territory during Thursday’s matchup.
  

    The two number nines, Yahizee Alvarado, a junior from the Tigers, and Savva Sochirca, a sophomore from the Eagles, battle along the sideline for possession of the ball.