Centennial had a clear plan coming into the Class 2A, Section 7 championship game on the road Tuesday against Andover.
“We get a goal, we’re pretty set,” Centennial coach Jeff Ottosen said after the 1-0 win.
The Cougars felt confident that as long as they got the game’s first goal, they could shut it down from there. That’s the kind of confidence a defense can build up when they’ve allowed nine goals in 19 games, keeping a shutout in 12 of those games.
Centennial traveled to Andover High School on Tuesday and beat the No. 1-seeded Huskies 1-0 in the Class 2A, Section 7 final, sending the Cougars to the Class 2A state tournament for the second straight year.
Centennial senior Chalee Moua scored the game's first and only goal seven minutes into the second half. The Cougars’ (17-2-0) William Miers found Moua alone on the edge of the box, and he fired a pinpoint strike that deflected off the crossbar and went in despite a great effort from Andover keeper Bodean Gaustad, who finished with one save.
The first half was tame in the opening 20 minutes, as it looked like neither team wanted to make a crucial mistake. The first shot on net came with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half, as Andover’s Alex Cole played in a long free kick that Cade Williams deflected toward the bottom left corner of the net. Centennial keeper, Richard Hemric was on top of it and sent the shot away for a corner kick — it was his only save of the game.
After Moua's goal, the Centennial defense shut down Andover (15-3-1), which wasn’t able to register another shot on net.
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