Caught in a battle of the midfields for much of the night, the Centralia girls soccer team opened up a long-range barrage Thursday at home, bombing three goals from well outside the penalty area in a 3-1 win over Black Hills in 2A EvCo play.
“That’s what we’ve been working on: If you have some space, just shoot,” first-year Centralia coach Luis Magana Reyna said.
That’s what Olivia Gruginski did in the 26th minute to break the deadlock, after Eva Reinitz pressed up from her spot on the left wing and Jaslin Corona collected the ball and fed her at the top of the box. Gruginski opened up onto her right foot from around 22 yards out, and got her shot over the keeper and under the bar to make it 1-0.
In a first half that saw the Wolves (0-7, 0-5 2A EvCo) hold the larger share of possession, the Tigers still opened up the best chances, sparked by an attacking line that gave Black Hills’ defenders no chance to relax and forced turnover after turnover at the back.
“This week, since we had a bye, we’ve just been doing a lot of conditioning, because that’s what I want,” Magana Reyna said. “I want the girls to press hard as much as they can and be able to last those 80 minutes up there.”
That goal put the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 2A EvCo) ahead at the break. Coming back for the second half, they went back to the long-range well, with Yarexy Mejia bombing a shot top-bins from a good 40 yards out to double the lead.
The second strike opened up Centralia’s best run of possession of the night, capped by Gruginski’s second goal, in the 61st minute, on another shot from distance.
“I was happy with the performance in the second half,” Magana Reyna said. “We were able to move the ball up and be in the attacking third more.”
Centralia ended up putting nine shots on frame, only one of which came within the penalty area.
For all its possession early, Black Hills couldn’t get the ball into a good attacking area, but the Wolves managed to break through late from the widest of angles for a bright spot in the match. In the 70th minute, Hailey Tinsley collected the ball just about 10 yards from the corner flag and tried to cross the ball into the box, only for it to take a high hop and find its way into the back of the net for the Wolves’ first goal of the league season.
“It doesn’t matter how they get in the back of the net; so long as they get in the back of the net, that’s what counts,” BH coach Ty Johnson said.
That sparked a better few minutes for the Wolves, but they couldn’t turn it into a second goal.
“We kind of fell into a little bit of kickball instead of trying to maintain possession, and we didn’t combine very well in the attacking third to create those opportunities,” Johnson said. “Centralia does a good job of defending and keeping numbers back. When we’d get the ball in the attacking third, they’d have four or five players there.”
Centralia will get a big non-league test Saturday at 1A Montesano, while Black Hills will take on Shelton on Tuesday.
