Prep girls soccer: Early goal, lockdown defense ignite Bearcats past Tigers

Kevin Schultz summed it up in a handful of words.

“A lot of players stepped up tonight,” the second-year head coach of the W.F. West High School girls soccer team stated.

There have been a few nagging injuries that have kept players off the field plus some girls battling sickness; junior midfielder Violet Ratkie played the full 80 minutes with a knee sprain.

Still, despite some new faces on the field, the Bearcats had just enough juice to beat their top rival.

Wyatt Rogerson’s goal in the fourth minute proved to be the lone tally on Tuesday night in W.F. West’s 1-0 triumph over Centralia in an Evergreen Conference match.

“We knew we wanted to score first,” Schultz said.

In previous years, this would have been the first of two legs of the Chronicle Cup, the trophy the winner gets after the second league game. Under the new format, there won’t be an aggregate score to determine who hoists the trophy.

So when the two sides meet again this month at Tiger Stadium, the outright winner of that game will win the Chronicle Cup.

Which both coaches are hoping resembles more of a rivalry, from the atmosphere to the pitch.

“The intensity levels on both teams were low and so was the crowd,” Tigers head coach Luis Magana said. “It was so quiet, we could hear normal conversation in the stands. This match just felt weird. Found that to be very strange.”

The last 10 minutes of the match featured not only three yellow cards, but an increased chippiness. One of the players that got carded was Centralia’s Olivia Gruginski, its top goal scorer.

That halted a late push by the Tigers in trying for an equalizer. They notched just one shot on goal in the final 40 minutes.

“We took one too many touches,” Magana said. “By the time we decided to go out wide, it was too late.”

One of the adjustments due to personnel for W.F. West (7-2, 3-1 EvCo) was moving senior Emily Mallonee to the back line. It collapsed on the Tigers forwards in the attacking third to prevent clean looks.

Charlee Nelson notched four saves in net.

“Emily is just a solid player,” Schultz said. “All the girls kind of know she’s the rock. She just reads the game well.”

The Bearcats pushed the pace on a counter-attack that started with an Ashlen Gruginski shot that deflected off a Centralia defender and to the feet of Rogerson. The junior laced a shot inside the 18-yard box to the left corner.

It was far from W.F. West’s only chance. Tigers (4-3-3, 3-1) netminder Braylee Blankenship halted more goals with six saves, one on a free kick.

“I didn’t really feel anything (was) really, really dangerous other than that beautiful goal from Wyatt,” Magana said.

W.F. West has won two straight after suffering its lone league loss to Tumwater. It is also three wins away from surpassing last season’s win total before the district tournament commences.

The Bearcats close the first half of the EvCo season at Shelton.

“We want them to play loose,” Schultz said. “Our goal is to make sure we’re improving each game.”

Centralia will face league-leading Tumwater on the road on Thursday.

“We’re still in contention for (at least) second place or third place,” Magana said. “Tumwater is in a league of its own.”