HS Girls Soccer: WF West Avenges 2023 Season Ending Loss with 3-0 Shutout of Woodland

9/10/24

WF West 3, Woodland 0

(Chehalis, WA) Last season, the Woodland Beavers took down the WF West Bearcats in the District Tournament to end the Bearcats season. Fast forward to the 2024 season and WF West would look for revenge as they opened up their season against Woodland as they finally got their opportunity to exact revenge.

Both teams come into 2024 with plenty of youth especially in goal. Woodland would use two goalies in sophomore Brooklyn Haden and freshman Rally McReynolds while WF West would have their own sophomore in goal in Charlee Nelson. All three keepers would get tested but Brooklyn Haden was under fire early. WF West controlled possession and broke through in the 12th minute. Ashley Gruginski weaved her way through the Woodland defense and put a great pass in front of the goal where Rhylee Beebe was there for it to just tap it in to give WF West a 1-0 lead.

The Bearcats continued to put pressure on the Woodland backline but were kept to just one goal after Emma Gonzalez was able to just barely keep a loose ball out of the back of the net, helping out her keeper. Just minutes later, Wyatt Rogerson would have a breakaway opportunity for WF West but Haden was able to deny Rogerson’s shot. However, Madi Otten followed the shot and put the rebound back into the net for a goal in the 24th minute, giving the Bearcats a 2-0 lead. That would be the score at halftime despite a couple of good looks from Woodland in which one went off the post and crossbar and the other was just pushed over the top of the net on a fantastic save by Charlee Nelson.

WF West continued to win the possession battle coming out of halftime. WF West got some pressure on the new keeper in Rally McReynolds as Woodland head coach made the decision before the match started to use each of his keepers for one half. Gonzalez continued to lead the Woodland defense and Mireya Serrano really stood out as well in the second half.

Things then changed midway through the second half. Woodland began to take control of the flow of the match and started putting some serious pressure on the Bearcats. Once again, the Beavers had a shot go off the crossbar and could not seem to get the ball into the back of the net. Woodland also had a couple of issues with shots just sailing high as they continued to pelt the Bearcat defense. A late look for the Bearcats would result in the final goal of the match as in the 80th minute, Ashlen Gruginski found the back of the net to put the finishing touches on the 3-0 WF West victory.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to Ashlen Gruginski. The sophomore got the scoring started with a fantastic pass and had a couple of more great passes that just missed being put in the net. Gruginski sealed the deal on the MVP with her final minute goal as well after just missing a goal off of a corner kick early in the second half.

WF West starts the season on a high note as they move to 1-0 and will host 1A contender in Elma on Thursday at 7pm. Woodland starts their season off 0-1 and will look for their first win when they also host a 1A contender on Thursday as they take on La Center.

Woodland @ WF West Full Match Replay (Subscription Required)