NAPAVINE — When the Tenino girls soccer team last walked off the field earlier this week, the Beavers were left shaking their heads after a one-goal loss against Annie Wright.
Tenino didn’t have to sit on those feelings of frustration for long, though, as it had the chance to get back in the win column on Thursday night in Napavine.
They did just that, securing a dominant 5-0 victory over the Tigers to improve to 3-1.
“We felt like we were so good in the Annie Wright game,” Tenino coach Trevor Fetbrandt said. “But we got to come out here and reset. It was an opportunity to show our quality, and I think we did that.”
Callie Mickelson opened the scoring just six minutes in, sliding a shot into the side of the net off an assist from Rayanna Mustoe to open the scoring.
Throughout the next 25 minutes, the Tigers were able to keep it a one-score game. Tenino maintained possession in Napavine’s half, but wasn’t able to generate many Grade-A chances.
“We wanted to keep them in front of us, because we knew that they were gonna try to send that through ball over and over again,” Napavine coach Caleb Gallanger said. “Our defense did a fantastic job keeping them in front of us.”
Late in the first half, though, “tiny mistakes” led to two more Tenino goals.
Mustoe got a goal of her own with a powerful shot from the left side in the 33rd minute, and Kyla Watson scored a goal from about 20 yards out on the right side.
That offensive momentum carried into the second half, where Watson added two more goals in the 56th and 67th minute to complete a hat trick.
It’s a feat that comes just two games after she notched four assists in a win over Chelan.
“Kyla was fantastic,” Fetbrandt said. “Kyla wants to just get into space and fly … We knew going into it that there was a chance we were going to rotate her through with the 9, and she just dominated in that role.”
Mickelson picked up an assist on Watson’s first goal, Mikeala Cutlip earned the assist on the second, and Mustoe added her second on Watson’s third.
“I thought we were really starting to hit on some of the patterns that we’ve talked about,” Fetbrandt said. “We came out with really, really good energy. We were putting dangerous balls into space, and the times where their back line was dropping off, we did a really good job getting between the line and combining to get numbers into the attack. It was a complete performance.”
Fetbrandt also added that he was pleased with Preslee Fisher and Elizabeth Duarte, saying it was “nice to see some of the rotational depth come through and perform really well.”
“They both came in and did a really good job,” Fetbrandt said.
On the other side of the field, it was a quiet night.
The Tigers were able to gain possession more often in the second half, but they finished the night without a shot on goal.
“That was a consequence of how we were trying to play,” Gallanger said. “In the second half, the press that was triggered from Alexis (Schutz), allowed us to have more offensive situations in the attacking half. And Payton (Reaves) and Cadence (Bolen) getting a little bit more control in the second half allowed us to have more through balls.”
The matchup against Tenino is the first of three straight matches against a 1A Evergreen opponent for Napavine (1-1).
On Monday, they’ll host Elma, and on Tuesday, they’ll travel to Rochester.
“We see all of these games as a chance for us to get our defense locked down and see how we can attack as quickly as possible so we can be successful when we start playing our league games,” Gallanger said.
Tenino (3-1) will be back in action on Saturday, when it travels north to take on Overlake.
“We’re excited for this Saturday and another big matchup,” Fetbrandt said.
