LAS VEGAS -- 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 4-A Sunset Region title game at Bettye Wilson Park.

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.

Centennial (17-2-1) will meet Sunrise Region champion Coronado (16-1-2) for the Southern Nevada title at 4 p.m. today at Bettye Wilson Park, on the Cimarron-Memorial High School campus.

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.

(According to NIAA executive director Eddie Bonine, 4-A girls soccer will be in the winter in the 2009-2010 school year. Pahrump Valley is likely to be included in the 4-A winter schedule; last fall, the Lady Trojans played in the Southern Nevada Class 3-A League and qualified, for the first time in school history, for the state playoffs.)

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

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.

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.

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.