On senior night Wednesday, Centennial's powerful offense was on full display.
The Eagles scored four times in the first 41 minutes against visiting Glenelg, providing more than enough cushion to pull out a 4-2 victory for the team's third straight win. It's the eighth time this season the team has scored three or more times and improves Centennial to 7-3 in county play and 9-4 overall.
"It's a relief finally that we are putting the chances away a little more consistently because there have been times where we have struggled with that early in games," Centennial coach Mario Moonasingh said. "But you get games like today where the guys see the ball go in and it's like a gate opening and everybody is trying to get one in."
Up against Glenelg (6-4, 6-7), which had won two county games in a row itself prior to Wednesday, Centennial wasted no time gaining the upper hand. Ammar Narmouq found Shawn Atmar streaking ahead in transition in the opening six minutes and Atmar finished past Glenelg goalie Zach Rizk (6 saves) to quickly make it 1-0.
Then, with 13:41 left in the opening half, Noah Taylor got into the scoring act by redirecting in his own rebound to make it 2-0.
"We feel like when we start strong we keep it going," Taylor said. "When we are a communicating and attacking up the middle, that's when we are really attacking well."
It was a standout individual effort from Taylor that ended up leading to the Eagles third goal. With 5:24 left before halftime, Taylor won a ball in front and sent a hard cross into the box that ended up going off a Glenelg defender and into the net.
That 3-0 score held up through intermission and then Centennial padded things just 43 seconds after the break when Narmouq got loose on a breakaway and finished to up the lead to four.
Glenelg did find late life, scoring a pair of goals in the final 28:23 of regulation to create the final two-goal margin. The Gladiators were able to find space behind Centennial's high backline and also took advantage of a red card assessed to the Eagles midway through the second half that forced the team to play shorthanded.
Jordan Anderson scored Glenelg's first goal, while Ramzy Ahmed converted the second. Both scores came in transition.
With just one game left before playoffs, a match-up on the road against Reservoir, Moonasingh says he's hoping the team will finish strong in order to bring a winning streak and a lot of confidence into the postseason.
"When we played against Wilde Lake last week we talked about how it was time to start a streak, because we haven't really had a real hot streak yet. We've had a lot of win two or win three and then lose," he said. "But if we are going to go on a streak this is the time to do it, because playoffs are when you want to be playing your best. Winning these last three and then hopefully keeping it going against Reservoir, I feel like we are definitely getting stronger at the right time."
Centennial 4, Glenelg 2
Goals: C – Atmar, Taylor, Narmouq, Own Goal; G – Anderson, Ahmed.
Assists: C – Narmouq.
Saves: C – Vepa 4; G – Rizk 6.
Half: 3-0 C.