Though his players didn’t need any reminding, W.F. West coach and alum Kevin Schultz made sure to get his message across ahead of the Bearcats’ trip to Centralia.
“The last couple of days have just been ‘how fun is it to beat your rivals?’” Schultz said.
He was all smiles after the two teams met on Tuesday, when W.F. West topped Centralia 3-0.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Schultz said. “The girls did everything that we asked of them. It was a lot of fun and a lot of energy.”
It didn’t take long for the Bearcats to get on the board, as Ashlen Gruginski buried a pass from Izzy Teeter in just the 11th minute of the game.
Gruginski usually plays in the middle, but Schultz made the call to move her to the outside because he felt she would match up well against Centralia’s outside backs.
“We wanted to get her out wide,” Schultz said. “We worked on that all day yesterday, getting our wingers wide, isolated in 1 v. 1s, and making those diagonal runs behind.”
Both teams were able to generate a few more chances throughout the rest of the second half, but the score remained 1-0 until the 53rd minute, when Lauren Kelley buried a rebound from close range to double the Bearcat advantage.
Schultz and Kelley said that they had seen the Centralia keeper punch the ball in front of her on free kicks, leaving a chance for an attacker to quickly run up and take the shot.
Lucy Hornby took the free kick from outside the box, and Kelley was one of three Bearcats who immediately crashed towards the net.
“Knowing Lucy, I know it was gonna be on frame,” Kelley said. “She has a powerful leg, and a powerful kick. I knew she could do it, and I knew that one of us was going to get it.”
Fifteen minutes later, Kelley logged an assist on a goal from Sable Bunker, the freshman midfielder who scored her first varsity goal to put the game away.
Bunker was able to corral a loose ball in the box, settle, and place a low shot in the bottom right corner, just past the reach of a diving keeper.
“I’m so proud of her,” Kelley said. “She’s such an amazing teammate, and I love her. She works really hard, and she deserves it. I’m really happy that her first goal was here against our rival.”
The Tigers were able to generate a few scoring opportunities in the second half, but they were fewer and further between.
Centralia coach Luis Magana said that the Tigers have been living and dying by the 4-4-2 this season, and when a team plays with three midfielders, it can be hard for his pair of midfielders to maintain possession and get going on the counterattack consistently.
“We had those opportunities," Magana said. “But the thing that came back and bit us was them, definitely them overloading our midfielders.”
The Tigers (4-6, 2-2 2A EvCo) have now lost two games in a row, but they won’t have to wait long before trying to get back in the win column. They’ll host league-leading Tumwater on Thursday before hitting the road twice next week against two teams, Shelton and Aberdeen, who they have already beaten this season.
“We got to turn the page quickly,” Magana said. “Let the emotions happen tonight, but concentrate tomorrow and focus up at tomorrow’s practice because we’ve got a tough opponent on Thursday.”
The Bearcats (7-1-1, 3-1 2A EvCo) have won three of their first four EvCo games and sit in second heading into the final match of the first half of league play.
They’ll head to Shelton on Thursday before returning home to host Black Hills and Tumwater next week.
“As the season goes on, it’s gonna get even better, and we’re going to connect even more. I feel like we play as a family,” Kelley said. “I feel really connected to our team, and I feel like our whole team feels like that.”
