The Centralia girls soccer team faced another shutout in its third match of the season, falling 2-0 to 1A Montesano at Tiger Stadium on Saturday.
The Tigers had their fair share of possession on the right side of midfield throughout, but found themselves lacking that final ball or first touch in dangerous areas.
“I think today, the intensity was a lot higher,” head coach Noel Vasquez said. “We had more of an idea with our ball movement, and we were able to create some chances for ourselves. We’re still experiencing some struggles transitioning from offense to defense, but we looked a lot better today.”
Montesano got on the board with a counterattack in the 17th minute, with Kennedy Campbell bursting down the left side and flashing a shot to the far post that left the keeper rooted to the ground.
The Bulldogs then doubled their lead 13 minutes later, with a through ball to Mikayla Stanfield, who won the 1-on-1 with the keeper and tapped it home to make it 2-0.
The second half played out even more even than the first, but the result was the same on offense for Centralia. The Tigers put six shots on target, but couldn’t get any past the keeper.
Through three matches, Centralia is still searching for its first goal.
“I think (it’ll take) experience on both sides of the ball,” Vasquez said. “We’re really young up front, we’re really young on defense… A lot of these girls haven’t had varsity experience before this year. Getting bodied and learning how to protect the ball is going to take a couple games.”
Liliana Babka finished with eight saves of her own for the Tigers.
Centralia (0-3-0) will get its first taste of 2A Evergreen Conference play next Tuesday, when it hosts Tumwater.
