Extra Fun! Columbia Falls beats Billings Central in improbable extra time win

It was a fall classic. A game that will not be forgotten.

The Columbia Falls girls soccer team beat Billings Central 5-4 in extra time Saturday at home to advance to the state semifinals.

The Wildcats scored two goals in the last two minutes for the victory against a very tough Billings Central squad.

The Cats tied it 4-4 on a header at the 99th minute of the second overtime on a corner kick. Bella Mann got a knee on the ball in a violent scrum in front of the goal and Onnikka Lawrence headed it in.

It looked like the Cats for sure were going to a shootout, but a handful of seconds later Tatiana Raymond broke free from her defender on the left side of the field and made a beautiful shot that went up and over the outstretched arms of the Central keeper for the win.

“I lost it and then I got back,” Raymond explained. “The defender left and I took a touch around and then I shot it. It just went over her hands. I thought she was going to save it but it slipped in the back of the net.”

Raymond is all of 5-2, but has a beautiful touch and a powerful shot.

The game was tension-packed from the start. The Wildcats opened the scoring on a header by Bella Mann on a corner kick from Riley Byrd to open the scoring at the 7th minute.

But Central proved lethal on its counter attacks and Amaya Lorash found the back of the net for the Lady Rams at the 13th minute. Mann then knocked in a point blank shot after a feed by Taylor Rodgers to make it 2-1, 36 minutes in.

But the second half started out Central’s way. Lorash scored two goals at the 41st and 53rd minute marks to put the Rams up 3-2, for the hat trick.

Time was slipping away, but Rodgers was fouled hard on a one-on-one against Central goalie Lorelai Hutzenbiler, who got a yellow card. She went off, Central’s backup goalie went in and Rylie Byrd hit the penalty kick at the 69th minute and the Cats held on to send it to extra time.

In overtime, it seemed like the Cats hopes were dashed when Emerson Dull of Central knocked in a shot at the 98th minute, but the Cats scored twice in the closing minutes.

(Overtime is two 10 minute halves. Whoever leads after both wins, unless it remains tied. Then it goes to a shootout, where each team gets five penalty kicks to determine a winner).

The win was a total team effort for the Cats, who were all in on every play.

“A lot of clutch play by a lot of different players,” coach Thomas Clark said, “One of the best games I’ve ever been a part of.”

“To get the fourth goal was huge,” he said.

And then Raymond’s shot, a classic.

“It was a great shot,” Clark said. “It says a lot about who she is as a competitor. Not surprised she scored the game winner for us.”

The Cats had 17 shots to Central’s nine.  A physical match, there were 21 fouls, 11 against Columbia Falls, 10 against Central.

The girls now face Lone Peak in the semis Saturday at home at 3 p.m.

“They’re a little more counter attack than Billings,” Clark said. “They’ll present some problems for us.”

The last time the Cats came back from such a deficit was in the ‘08 playoffs against Hamilton. In that game, McKenzie Reeve scored two goals with less than two minutes to play to send it to extra time. Hamilton went up 5-4 in the first extra time period. Elyse Gordon hit a header with seconds left right in front of the Broncs’ goal which would have tied it, but the Bronc’s goalie snatched it out of the air as time expired.

The girls were just 2-9-2 that ‘08 season and Hamilton was undefeated. This year the Cats are undefeated at 11-0-2.