The Centralia girls soccer team lost its final regular season matchup Tuesday to Aberdeen, falling in a penalty shootout after drawing 0-0.
“I think that we had our chances, we just didn’t take advantage of them,” first-year Centralia coach Luis Magana Reyna said.
For the best part of the match, the Tigers (9-6, 6-5 2A EvCo) had the bulk of the threatening moments, outshooting the Bobcats 8-2 on the night. And there were plenty of golden chances to take the lead.
In the 25th minute, Alia Gomez beat the keeper on a run-out off a through ball and put the ball in the back of the net, only to be called offside. Two minutes after that, Olivia Gruginski got free in the box and launched a point-blank shot that was saved but spilled, but no Tigers came to crash down on the ball rolling dangerously along the mouth of goal.
In the second half, Eva Reinitz plagued the Aberdeen back line until the Bobcats turned the ball over, and the freshman made a great play to save it before it went out of bounds and flashed a cross across goal, but nobody came in to hammer it home. A couple minutes after that, Reinitz forced another takeaway and the ball found its way to Jaslin Corona, but her effort went straight into the keeper’s hands.
And in the final 10 seconds of the first period of extra time, the Tigers found a golden chance to win it then and there, when Anahi Corona looped a beautiful ball into the back post where two Centralia attackers found themselves free on goal — only to run into each other on their way to score the game-winner.
On the flip side, the Centralia defense had an easy time with nearly all of Aberdeen’s threats, and when it didn’t, Braylee Blankenship was there. In the 35th minute, the Bobcats sent a cross in and hammered a volley from inside 10 yards, but the junior keeper dove to her left to make a stellar save.
Ninety scoreless minutes sent the game into the lottery that is penalties, though, and Aberdeen put all four of its shots past Blankenship, while Centralia put one shot over the bar and had another one saved.
Centralia is still into the postseason despite the loss, though the Tigers now have some extra work to do. The Tigers will head to Woodland on Saturday for a loser-out district pigtail matchup against the Beavers, the No. 5 team out of the GSHL. A win would send Centralia into the double-elimination tournament, facing defending state champs Columbia River.
“The girls are excited because this is the first time in a long time for us to have soccer after the regular season,” Magana Reyna said. “I’m proud of that, I’m proud of the girls, I’m proud of the effort they gave this year.”
