The Centralia Tigers had two clear goals in mind when they took the field against Shelton on Tuesday.
The first goal, a clear one, was to snap a two-game losing streak with a win. The second, regardless of the final outcome, was to come out and play their style of soccer, something they got away from in a 9-0 loss to Tumwater last time out.
“It was resilience,” Centralia coach Luis Magana said. “That was our theme … We wanted to see how we would bounce back. Let’s turn the page, and let’s focus on these games.”
Magana was pleased with the way the Tigers did just that against the Highclimbers, as they came away with a 3-1 victory.
Magana hasn’t been afraid to mix up his formations to try to get the Centralia offense going throughout the season, and it worked in his favor early on Tuesday.
His goal was to maintain a high press, and in order to do so, he paired Cyndal Sills with Olivia Gruginski in the midfield with Izabella Hernandez and Jaslin Corona up front as the two strikers.
The pressure got through quickly, as Hernandez opened the scoring in the eighth minute.
“I think it worked out well,” Magana said. “We created opportunities.”
Centralia continued to generate chances throughout the rest of the first half, but the second goal didn’t come until the 46th minute, when Jocelyn Navarro got a shot through a crowded box to double the advantage.
Jaslin Corona made it 3-0 in the 62nd minute, scoring on an assist from Olivia Gruginski. It was Gruginski’s second assist of the night, and Magana was more than happy to see his go-to goal scorer creating more opportunities.
“She can score when we need it,” Magana said. “But she also does really well at playing that eight and being that center mid that looks out for the wingers and looks for our strikers.”
The Centralia defense’s lone blip came in the 69th minute, when Shelton’s Tatum Dickey scored on a long shot from outside the penalty area.
Magana didn’t put too much into that lapse, instead praising the play of Yarexy Mejia, who is almost fully ramped up from a knee injury after playing limited minutes earlier in the season.
Mejia and Jayden Krogness helped push the pace and create chances offensively, as they would often send long balls downfield that ended up at the feet of the Centralia forwards.
“It might not be the prettiest soccer,” Magana said. “But we do work on those long balls getting up there and creating that.”
Centralia (5-4-3, 4-2 EvCo) now sits two games ahead of Aberdeen for third in the EvCo standings, meaning that if the season ended today, the Tigers would avoid the pigtail game.
The Tigers can set themselves up nicely for a top-three finish if they can top Aberdeen at Tiger Stadium on Thursday.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Magana said. “It’s the same mentality … But I’m happy that we were able to bounce back today with the win.”
