HS Girls Soccer: WF West Aggressive Attack Lifts Bearcats to 3-0 Win in Tenino

9/19/24

WF West 3, Tenino 0

(Tenino, WA) An Evergreen 2A vs. Evergreen 1A conference matchup took place on the Blacktop in Tenino on Thursday night when the WF West Bearcats traveled to take on the Tenino Beavers. Both teams came into the nonleague meeting with strong starts to their season as both had just a couple more nonleague matches before diving into the ever important league play next week.

While a nonleague match, this one had a little bit more intensity to it due to the underlying story. WF West head coach Kevin Schultz returned to Tenino where he formerly coached girls soccer as recently as 2021. He would take on his former team and former assistant coach in Dave Montgomery who took over the Tenino program in 2022. The friendly competition between the two coaches would result in a very fun and intriguing chess match on the field.

Tenino came out in a more defensive minded approach as they looked to slow down a high powered WF West attack. The Bearcats got out of the gates very fast and pressured the Tenino back line early and often but the Beavers did a nice job denying entry into the 18-yard box. Tamara Snodderly led the defense along with Mikaela Cutlip, Maria Summers, Kyra Dirks, and Georgia Gore. However, the constant pressure by Ashlen Gruginski and Emily Mallonee on one side with Rhylee Beebe and Wyatt Rogerson on the other ended up wearing down the Beavers. In the 10th minute, Jaelynn Fuentes would find room to fire off a shot that found the back of the net to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.

Offensively the Beavers struggled to get much going. WF West’s back line pressured everything just past midfield to keep the ball on their attacking half. The smothering Bearcats just never let Tenino breath and work their way into it. WF West earned a corner in the 24th minute that would be taken by Fuentes. She would show pinpoint precision off the head of Ashlen Gruginski and by the Tenino keeper. That would be the final goal of the half but Fuentes has led the Bearcats to a strong 2-0 lead at halftime.

Adjustments were made at halftime and just two minutes into the second half, Tenino had as many shots as they had in all of the first half. The Beavers looked much more comfortable and looked to go back to a more balanced approach on offense and defense. Callie Mickelson started to find some room to work and her and Paisley Garcia looked solid working together to try to get the Beavers on the board. A quick counter though for the Bearcats would net them another. Once again, it would be Jaelynn Fuentes putting the ball in the back of the net to make it 3-0 WF West in the 44th minute.

It could have gotten worse for Tenino if it wasn’t for Allison Kalkus. The senior keeper made a few tremendous saves on open looks for the Bearcats. Even thought the Bearcats had three goals, Kalkus played phenomenal goalie as all WF West’s goals came on impossible shots to save. Tenino would get some more looks on offense with Kyla Watson joining the attack, but they just couldn’t breakdown the Bearcat defense. Charlee Nelson had a fairly quiet night in goal as WF West powered their way to a 3-0 win over Tenino.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match was Jaelynn Fuentes for WF West. The senior did a nice job of setting up the Bearcat forwards but would do plenty of work in the attacking third. Fuentes scored two goals and assisted on the third to make her mark on the match. With her hands on all three goals, it was a no-brainer to name Fuentes MVP for Thursday night.

The win for WF West moves the Bearcats to 3-1 on the season with one more nonleague match on tap. On Monday, WF West will travel to take on Battle Ground at 7pm. Tenino drops to 3-2-1 and they also will play one final nonleague match on Monday at 7pm when the Beavers host the Toledo Riverhawks.

Link to watch the full match on the NFHS Network (Subscription required)