The Sealy Tiger soccer team opened play within District 20-4A with a 4-1 win on the road over Hempstead last Friday.

Earlier in the week, Sealy traveled to Altair to face the Rice Raiders before it hosts the Harmony School of Discovery Tigers to end this week on Friday night for the first home district game of the season. Discovery earned its first district win over Rice last week.

The Sealy Tigers entered this week of play with a 4-5 overall record and the 1-0 mark in district thanks in part to another strong performance from sophomore Amador Lopez.

After scoring the game-winning goal in the non-district finale, Lopez recorded a pair of goals in the district-opening win. Complementing his scoring efforts were Austin Moyle and Adrian Arriaga, who registered the other two goals that helped lift the Tigers.

Although many of the key players from last year’s team graduated, head coach Perez said the strong youth movement, with Lopez included, started to feel more comfortable in the non-district finale.

“I talked with the guys and said we only had two varsity players from last year playing during the last (tournament) game … so we have to be better because that’s what we have, but they played super well,” Perez said on Jan. 18.