Arbor View girls shrug off pressure, roll past Centennial

Arbor View girls soccer coach Jay Howard concedes that his players feel the pressure and often hear the outside talk. That comes with the territory after winning the last four state championships.

On Thursday, however, the Aggies could not have played looser.

Sierra Vicente scored two second-half goals and added an assist to lead host Arbor View to a 4-0 win over Centennial in a rematch of last season’s Sunset Region final.

“That’s the best we’ve played this year,” Howard said.

Just six days after tying Palo Verde in a Northwest League match, the Aggies left no room for doubt against the Bulldogs.

“The girls are just starting to come together,” Howard said. “We’ve had so much success here that they’re feeling this pressure and panic, and we’ve been talking about playing through that. I thought today they came out — even in pregame — and were calmer and I thought that really showed. We just played instead of worrying about who we are.”

Hannah Ferrara scored off an assist from Deja Erickson in the seventh minute to open the scoring for Arbor View (9-0-2, 5-0-1 Northwest).

Allyssa Larkin took a pass from Vicente in the 30th minute and gracefully sent it over Centennial goalkeeper Addison Riddle for the team’s second goal. Larkin’s ball went just below the crossbar to give the Aggies a 2-0 halftime lead.

The front line of Erickson, Larkin and Vicente proved to be too much for Centennial (9-3-1, 3-2-1 Northwest), which couldn’t avenge a 4-0 loss in last season’s region final.

The Aggies controlled possession, moved the ball efficiently and used a stout defense to take control.

“We really try to — and we’re able to with our talent — stress the whole team concept,” Howard said. “That’s one of the things we talked about at halftime. Go to one spot and make them take that away, and that’s going to open something else up. We have the luxury to be able to do that because we have a lot of speed and talented players.”

Vicente walked in a goal assisted from Ferrara in the 58th minute, and added a penalty kick with 10 minutes remaining for the final margin.

“Little Sierra just finds space,” Howard said. “That’s one of the things she’s just incredible at — being where the ball’s going to be.”

Haylee Niemann recorded the shutout with two saves for Arbor View.

Riddle made two saves for the Bulldogs, who couldn’t convert nine shot attempts.

“It was just mental today,” Centennial coach Kristina Kasten said. “Mentally, we weren’t ready for this game and I think it was a good wake-up call for them. When we see them later in the season, they’ll be ready.

“In their minds, they still have the goal of beating Arbor.”