Centralia Earns Non-League Shutout Over Tenino on Retro Night

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The Centralia and Tenino girls soccer teams threw it back to decades past Saturday at Tiger Stadium, but it was the Tigers who pulled out the old-school, low-scoring win, 1-0, in non-league play.

“I think it was a good game for us overall,” Centralia coach Noel Vazquez said. “We moved the ball well. They have a good defense and a really good goalkeeper; I know it’s not easy to get past her.”

For 40 minutes the teams’ respective retro uniforms — Tenino brought out the kits its 1996 team wore, while Centralia’s were from 2006 — were the most notable sights on the pitch. But after a change in tactics at the break, the Tigers finally found the spark on offense in the second half.

“We were struggling in the first half finding our wingers and creating offense from the outside in,” Vazquez said. “So we changed it up a little bit, attacking through the middle.”

Vazquez also changed up his personnel a bit, including bringing on Annie Lapierre. In the 67th minute, the senior got upfield and flashed a pass across goal, and while Tenino keeper Trinity Tafoya got to it first, the ball bounced out to Olivia Gruginski, who put it home to make it 1-0.

The Tigers kept the pressure up and had a golden chance to double their lead three minutes later when they won a penalty kick, but Tafoya kept her side just a goal down by saving it.



On the flip side of the field, though, the Beavers struggled to get much going of their own. Centralia won the bulk of the possession battle, and Tenino managed just three shots on target all night long — all of which Lilliana Babka saved.

“That final pass just wasn’t quite there yet, and that’s something we’re going to have to work on in practice on Monday,” Tenino coach Dave Montgomery said.

Centralia (3-8, 2-5 2A EvCo) and Tenino (3-6-1, 1-2 1A Evergreen) will both return to league play Tuesday, the Tigers hosting Rochester and the Beavers heading to Eatonville.