HS Soccer: WF West Defeats Centralia, Locks Up #2 Seed in EvCo 2A

10/24/24

WF West 3, Centralia 0

(Centralia, WA) It was a dramatic and intense meeting the first time the WF West Bearcats and Centralia Tigers met back on October 8th. After scoring in the 4th minute, WF West hung on to win the first leg of the rivalry by a final of 1-0. There would be quite a bit on the line in the second leg as both teams battled for the #2 seed out of the Evergreen 2A conference. With an added pigtail game, only the top two teams in the EvCo would be locked in to the double elimination portion of the bracket while the #3 would have to play the GSHL #6 in a loser out pigtail match on Halloween.

First Half

After a little bit of a feeling out process early, WF West began to push the ball into their attacking third a little bit more. The lone goal scorer in the first meeting of the season between the teams would come through early again. In the 9th minute, Wyatt Rogerson used some fancy footwork to bring the ball inside of the 18-yard box. She would then turn and fire shot that deflected into the goal off of the keeper. Just like in the first meeting, Rogerson had given WF West a 1-0 lead in the first ten minutes of the match.

Centralia would then start to push forward a little bit as well. Jaslin Corona led the attack for the Tigers but got plenty of help from Jocelyn Navarro and Izabella Hernandez.WF West’s back line stood strong, led my Violet Ratkie and Kaija Economou. The Bearcat offense looked to give WF West some extra breathing room as Ashlen Gruginski kept up a relentless tempo with Rhylee Beebe and Emily Mallonee on the wings.

In the 27th minute, a handball inside the 18 would gift the Bearcats a penalty kick and a chance to go up 2-0 before halftime. Emily Mallonee would step up to take the shot for the Bearcats against Tiger goalie Braylee Blankenship. In a huge moment for the Tigers, the senior keeper denied the PK and the ensuing corner was also cleared out. That kept the energy alive for Centralia as they went into halftime trailing WF West just 1-0.

Second Half

In the second half, Centralia came up with the initial push. Corona and Eva Reinitz looked to breakthrough the tough Bearcat defense but could not get the initial attack past keeper Charlee Nelson. Nelson would then send a drop kick all the way up to Ashlen Gruginski who broke free. Gruginski got a one-on-one opportunity against Braylee Blankenship and Gruginski was able to find the back of the net. In the 44th minute, WF West found their breathing room and extended their lead to 2-0.

Ten minutes later, WF West would cash in on a foul called on Centralia. Wyatt Rogerson would take the free kick from about 35-yards out and delivered a perfect ball into the 18. A little collision between Ashlen Gruginski and Braylee Blankenship would see the ball hit off of Gruginski and trickle over the goal line. A second goal for Gruginski off of a Rogerson assist opened things up even more as the Bearcats had a 3-0 lead.

Centralia would have to play a chunk of the second half with just ten players. That limited the opportunities for the Tigers and the WF West defense was just too strong. Blankenship would come up with another save on a PK to prevent WF West from adding on. However, Kaija Economou, Violet Ratkie, Paisley Ridgway, and Kallie Hitch were too strong defensively down the stretch. The Bearcats were able to finish the match strong a preserve the shutout with a 3-0 rivalry win.

Postgame

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to senior defender Kaija Economou for WF West. Economou was all over the field defensively and played with a very nice balance of technical skills and some physicality as well. The defense was spearheaded by Economou as they made life easy on Charlee Nelson en route to the shutout win.

With the win for WF West, the Bearcats move to 11-3 overall and 7-2 in EvCo 2A play and they also lock up the #2 seed out of the conference in the district tournament. The Bearcats will conclude the regular season on Tuesday when they visit Shelton on Tuesday at 7pm before hosting the GSHL #3 to open up the district tournament. The loss drops Centralia to 6-6-3 overall and 5-4 in league play. The Tigers locked up the #3 seed out of the EvCo thanks to Tumwater’s win over Black Hills. After the Tigers wrap up the regular season with a home match against Tumwater on Tuesday at 7pm, they will then host the GSHL #6 seed in a pigtail game. The winner of that match will move to the double elimination portion of the bracket while the loser will have their season come to an end.

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