9/27/16

Centralia 2, Rochester 0

(Centralia, WA) The Centralia Tigers were looking to double up their early season league record coming in with a 1-0 Evco 2A record and 3-4 mark overall. Rochester was 0-1 and 1-2-3 overall but the Warriors had bigger issues and that was depth. They had none. Coach John Hayes had to decide whether or not to play the JV game with only 10 players or only the varsity match with 10 subs. He chose to play both matches and actually competed very well in each coming away with a 1-1 tie in the JV match and losing 2-0 on 2 goals in the final 13-minutes.

Rochester played defensively for the 1st half wanting to stay in the game and not allow the Tigers to gain an advantage and then have to play from behind. The Warriors and their defense did a great job denying the Tigers with Bella Phelps in goal and the back line of Cecilia Sbai, Alexa Black and Nicole Fry. This stalemate would hold to the break and it was 0-0 at the half.

In the 2nd half the Warriors decided to press the pace and they were the ones applying the offensive pressure but the Tiger defense led  by keeper Courtney Leifer and defenders Carissa Kaut, Maddy Alviar, Taylor Powell and Jade Coady. They combined to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard for the entire 80 minutes.

As the match entered the final 20 minutes you could tell the Warriors were beginning to wear down and the Tigers had survived their best attacks. It was time for the Tigers to turn up the pressure and did so with Jo Navarro, Alayna Miller, Makiah Harris and Anna Ulrigg.

Centralia would break the deadlock in the 67th minute when Navarro made a perfect pass to Miller who fired it into the net and the Tigers led 1-0. Centralia would strike again in the 72nd minute when the ball was booted home by Harris from the middle of a pack of players. We initially thought it was Ulrigg who scored but it was Harris. Ulrigg had a solid game and her motor just doesn’t stop.

Centralia finally wore down the shorthanded Warriors and improved to 2-0 in league play and 4-4 overall. Rochester dropped to 0-2 and 1-3-3. Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game went to Ulrigg for the Tigers and Janna Adams for Rochester. Our ProActive Physical Therapy Play of the Game went to Alayna Miller and Jo Navarro for the 1st goal of the match.

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