A late-arriving trophy sat on the track of Tiger Stadium. Plenty of feistiness took place between W.F. West and Centralia’s girls soccer teams. There were screams of happiness and frustration. Even a red card was shown.
Welcome to the new one-game-for-all-the-marbles format for the Chronicle Cup.
The end result was a similar story.
Sparked by two second half goals from Ashlen Gruginski and another clean sheet from sophomore Charlee Nelson, the Bearcats prevailed over their arch rival Tigers 3-0 on Thursday night to keep the 6-foot trophy in Chehalis.
“We just have to go and fight,” Gruginski said. “We've gotten stronger from losing. We have to work and get through it.”
Following the handshake line, W.F. West (11-3, 7-2) rushed towards midfield and unleashed the cheers of hoisting the trophy towards its crowd. The players huddled for a team photo and yelled the school song.
Eight seniors are on the Bearcats roster that have never experienced losing the cup.
“It feels really nice to keep it and we love winning that together,” senior defender Kaija Economou said. “Our team is the same, but we feel more together.”
Coach Kevin Schultz’s program also locked up the Evergreen Conference’s No. 2 seed for the Class 2A District 4 tournament that begins with two pigtail games next Thursday. W.F. West would open the postseason next Saturday.
The opponent? R.A. Long. It would be a rematch of the district quarterfinals from last fall, a 5-0 triumph by the Lumberjills on the road.
Yet this version of the Bearcats (11-3, 7-2 EvCo) has been winning more consistently in Schultz’s second year.
“They believe in themselves,” he said. “Just being confident when the game is on the line, when those moments are there, we’re going to find the goals.”
As the season has transpired, the identity of W.F. West is the same as last fall, playing from back to front with an experienced back line that is entering year two of cohesiveness.
It has notched eight shutouts with one regular season game to go. Nelson had to come up with a couple acrobatic saves to maintain the clean sheet. The last four games versus Centralia, the Bearcats have not allowed a goal.
“We’re all super close and our communication is spot on,” Economou said.
The offense took care of the rest.
Wyatt Rogerson launched a shot that took a funky bounce and skipped off the hands of Centralia (6-6-3, 5-4) goalie Braylee Blakenship in the eighth minute for an early 1-0 cushion.
Gruginski took one touch in the 43rd minute, got by the defender and fired a rocket to double the lead. Rogerson delivered a free kick that found Gruginski on the far post in the 53rd minute.
“They help me so much, setting me up perfectly for wide open shots,” Gruginski said.
Blankenship saved two penalty kicks, but some frustration boiled over.
Tigers junior Izabella Hernandez got a yellow card in the first half and second yellow, which equals a red card, in the second half. As she walked off, their head coach Luis Magana kicked tiny green cones that splattered over the track.
“Today (it) was pushing my buttons, but I never want to blame anything on the officiating,” Magana said.
Centralia closes the regular season versus Tumwater, then will play in a pigtail contest hosting either Woodland or Washougal. Magana believes his group can recover in time for a playoff opener.
“We get to fight and live another day,” he said. “The season is not over.”
Despite W.F. West seemingly responded again after a loss to Tumwater with back-to-back three-goal outbursts, it still feels another gear is on the way.
“Our goals were to finish top-two in the league and keep the Chronicle Cup (at) home,” Schultz said. “We keep the ball so much that we don’t have to be under pressure.”
