Senior Owens carries Centennial to Sunset championship

Centennial girls soccer coach Emmanuel Ayim has a bountiful roster to work with, but it’s senior midfielder Julie Owens who strikes him as the “heart and soul” of the Bulldogs.

The UNLV signee showed why Monday, scoring twice to lift Centennial to a 2-0 win over Bishop Gorman in the Class 4A Sunset Region title game at Bettye Wilson Park.

“Her having the game that she did was just fitting,” Ayim said. “It was fitting for her to lead us into the finals.”

Owens scored on a free kick just under 15 minutes before halftime and then on a penalty kick in the final five minutes of the game.

“I knew we had won the game,” Owens said of her second goal. “I knew after I scored, my team would be pumped to keep going and not let up until the whistle blew.”

Centennial (17-2-1) will meet Coronado (16-1-2) in the Southern Nevada championship at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Bettye Wilson Park.

There will be no state title match because girls soccer in Northern Nevada is played during the fall. The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association has voted three times to move Clark County School District girls soccer to the fall, but the move was prevented by a Title IX lawsuit brought against the NIAA by the parent of a Green Valley volleyball and soccer player.

Still, the chance for a second consecutive Southern Nevada crown is something the Bulldogs covet.

“I’m excited, but I try not to get too excited because we still have one more step to go,” Ayim said.

The Bulldogs were originally eliminated from the Sunset semifinals with a 3-0 loss to Arbor View on Feb. 26. But they got a second chance March 3, when the NIAA reshuffled the brackets in the wake of Shadow Ridge forfeiting a Jan. 28 game against Legacy for using an ineligible player.

“I know that everyone is probably pulling against us because we lost and they’re mad,” said Owens, a four-year starter. “But it just gives us more drive to win and take our second chance and do something with it.”

Added Ayim: “We’ve been tossed a lifeline, and we’re taking full advantage of it.”

Centennial sophomore goalkeeper Gretchen Mikulich posted a five-save shutout.

Gorman (18-2-0) lost despite a 7-3 edge in shots during the second half, when it had the gusting wind at its back.

“In the second half, we had the wind, and we knew we were going to have an advantage with that,” Gaels coach Lora Feely said. “We were knocking on their door for probably, I’d say, 80 percent of that second half.

“It’s hard when they’re working and they’re so close. We really wanted to make it to that final, but it is what it is.”

Owens said the Bulldogs were able to capitalize with the wind at their backs during the first half.

“I was happy my team scored going with the wind,” she said. “(Ayim) told us at the beginning to try to get as many goals as we could with the wind so it would be easier in the second half. I’m just glad that I got one in.”

Gorman will lose four seniors, including two Division I signees in midfielder Mariah Hobbs (San Diego) and goalkeeper Alex Holland (Louisiana-Monroe).

Meanwhile, Centennial will be going for its fourth Southern Nevada title in the past nine years. But it would be the Bulldogs’ first repeat crown.

“That’d be pretty cool to have two rings,” Owens said.