It was a tough opening weekend for the Tiger soccer program.

At home, the boys went 0-2-1 against a skilled Owatonna team and on the road, the girls dropped three to Park of Cottage Grove.

For the varsity players, it was a tale of two halves.

Boys’ head coach Elia Romano noted, &uot;For the first 30 minutes of our game, I felt that we were making excellent decisions, working well together as a team, providing good support for each other on both offense and defense and it felt like we had good intensity. We were all really pumped up and our defense made few if any mistakes, heading off dangerous situations before they could pose much of a threat.&uot;

In the opening minutes, Zach McGinnis netted a Peter Drachmann feed to start the scoring.

Playing well throughout the first half, the Tigers lost their focus in the second and the game got away from them. Owatonna won 3-1.

&uot;I thought that we lacked some things as a team that will in the end dictate how we survive our very tough conference,&uot; said Romano. &uot;Although we played hard and exerted tremendous effort we lacked the commitment and concentration to win disputed balls. I expect us to take this game as a wake-up call and work hard to become more ready to match our opponent’s intensity and desire for a full 80 minutes. Zach McGinnis was certainly a bright spot in this game, matching both the physical play and concentration that Owatonna brought throughout the entire afternoon.&uot;

Outside the stadium, the junior varsity tied 1-1 behind an Isaac Wiese goal, while the C-squad fell 3-2 with Rich Needham and Matt Clark scoring.

For the girls, it was a much rougher afternoon outing.

Park’s players, on average, were bigger, older and half a step faster. With more than a third of the team new players and everyone adapting to new tactics, the Tigers initially played with hesitation, allowing the Wolfpack to score three first-half goals.

The aggressive offseason fitness program paid dividends as the girls matched up against the deeper Park bench and remained competitive from whistle to whistle.

In the second half, the locals settled in and began threatening the Wolfpack goal.

After his first game as Tiger head coach, Rick Barnhill was candid in his assessment.

&uot;We lacked rhythm and flow throughout the first half and played tentatively,&uot; said Barnhill. &uot;We were losing matchups in the middle third of the field and just looked ragged and jagged that first half. For our next game, against Mankato Loyola, there has to be more toughness and longer fighting of balls. But this was a first step.&uot;