Bearcats Take Opening Leg of Chronicle Cup Series

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Not happy after a defeat to Centralia last year in the Chronicle Cup, the W.F. West boys soccer team got off to a good start in this year’s edition of the rivalry series, defeating the Tigers in Chehalis Wednesday night, 3-1. 

The Bearcats and Tigers went back-and-forth for the majority of the game, trading shots at nearly an even clip, but W.F. West cashed in more chances, with Cody Pennington recording a brace in his first game back in the starting lineup after sickness held him out a week ago. 

“It’s nice to see the guys get their chemistry back,” W.F. West coach Allen Anderson said. “We mixed up some things by throwing a new formation out there to start and it worked. We’ll see how we go from here. I’m really happy with the guys.”

Pennington got the Bearcats on the board first in the ninth minute, lacing a shot off the hop just past the Centralia keeper inside the left post. 

W.F. West liked that post, with Adrian Jaimes knocking in a free kick from the left side about 20 yards out for the Bearcats’ second goal in the 62nd minute, just a minute after Centralia just missed a shot attempt high. 

The Tigers would manage to get on the board and halve the deficit in the 74th, with Kilmer Alverto stretching a beautiful shot through the back of the net, but a lack of defensive focus led to Pennington racing down the field for his second goal in that same minute to bring the lead back to two. 

The Bearcats held on the rest of the way to win the opening leg of the Cup, and head into the second matchup with the Tigers with a two-goal lead in the aggregate. 

Centralia would have to win by three goals to keep the Cup after winning it a year ago. 

“It sucks we gave up that goal at the end, we were trying to get the shutout,” Anderson said. “But the guys came back from that scoring in the next couple of minutes, I couldn’t ask for anything better. They didn’t hang their heads, it was a great way to finish the game.”

W.F. West’s defense, despite giving up the goal to Alverto in the 74th, was lights out, holding the Tigers to just two corners with keeper Hayden Sciera recording five saves. 

Anderson was proud of his back line, which is mostly new to defense this year, and how they’ve stepped up in the early season. 

“Cam (Kunz) did a fantastic job sitting in front of them today in more of a midfield role,” Anderson said. “I’m really confident in our defense this year. We have really good experience. They’re still learning, but I’m proud of how they’re learning and feeding off of each other.”

Centralia, meanwhile, had a hard time cashing in on opportunities when the ball didn’t quite bounce its way. While the Tigers fought hard till the end, and brought the deficit to one late, an overly-excited group let their focus drop and led to the clincher from Pennington less than a minute later. 

The Tigers finished with 10 shots, with six on goal, and keeper Henry Silva had six saves against nine shots on frame. 

“We’re going to have to work twice as hard next time, we didn’t get it done today,” Tigers coach Noel Vazquez said. “At the end of the day we have to perform and try to get better every time. A two-goal deficit seems like a lot but it’s not impossible. We just need to put our team together and our guys need to focus and figure out how they want to compete.”

The Bearcats, conversely, are now in the driver’s seat to claim the Chronicle Cup for the first time after its first year last season, and the way 2022’s series ended has not been forgotten, per Anderson. 

“I know our boys weren’t happy after last year,” he said. “Their mind is made up, they want that trophy.”

The Bearcats and Tigers play again against each other in Centralia on April 21. 

Next up for W.F. West is another league matchup against Black Hills on Saturday, while Centralia takes on Tenino in a non-league get-together.