Bears Battle Past Lady Jackets in 2OT (10/12/05)
Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – Even.  That’s now the all-time series record—and an apt description of Wednesday’s game—after Rocky Mountain College won a 2-1 double overtime decision against Montana State-Billings at College of Technology Field.  The victory squared the series between the two squads at 6-6-1.

A glance at the stat sheet shows a game dominated by neither team.  Each had a total of 17 shots.  MSU Billings had a 9-8 advantage for shots on goal.  The Bears had eight saves to the Jackets’ six.  The Yellowjackets had 10 corner kicks while the Bears had just two, but it was Rocky’s final corner kick that decided the game.

“That was just two good teams playing hard today,” said MSU Billings head coach Don Trentham.  “It was one of those games where, if you made a mistake, it was going to cost you.  Rocky got the bounce today and we didn’t.”

That “bounce” came in the 106^th minute—or more precisely 6:24 into the second overtime period—when a corner kick from Rocky’s Alanna Dekorompay rattled around in the box near the Yellowjackets’ goal where it bounced off an MSU Billings defender and into the net for an “own goal.”  Own goals are rare, but it’s even more rare when they decide overtime games.

“The game was two different halves,” said Rocky coach Richard Duffy afterward.  “We were up 10-5 on shots in the first half; they had the big advantage in the second half.”

After the Bears launched 10 shots in the opening 45 minutes, the Yellowjackets did the same in the second half to outshoot Rocky just 15-13 in regulation.  But Rocky controlled a large part of both overtime periods, taking four shots to just two for MSU Billings.

Corner kicks turned out to be the story of the game.  The deciding goal came off a corner kick as did each team’s first half goal.  The Yellowjackets opened the scoring just 16:17 into the contest when Mandy Ploskonka scored from close range after taking a corner kick from Ally Stroup.  The Bears were unable to head Stroup’s pass away, and it fell to the ground in front of Ploskonka who quickly deposited it into the net past Bears goalkeeper Vanessa Peters.

The Bears answered just 12 minutes later to tie the game on a corner kick from Jeannie McGonagle.  Just as it happened on the other end of the field, McGonagle’s corner kick could not be headed away by the Yellowjackets, and Claire Crosbie booted it past Yellowjacket goalkeeper Megan Plank from close range.

After Crosbie’s goal, the game was scoreless for the next 78 minutes, including a 10 minute overtime period and six and a half minutes of the second overtime.

“I was hoping in the first overtime to get to play with the sun to our backs, but we didn’t,” said Duffy.  “In the first overtime we just wanted to keep it tight in the back and get to the second overtime and sneak out a win at the end.”

With the sun starting to set on the western horizon, it appeared for a moment that MSU Billings would be the one to sneak out the win in the first overtime.  In the 96^th minute Stroup dribbled the ball from the midfield into Rocky’s box where Peters extended out to cut down her shot angle.  Stroup and Peters collided into a heap on the ground, but the ball squirted by Peters and rolled—seemingly in slow motion—toward the right corner of the net.

A split second before the ball crossed the goal line, the Bears’ Charlotte Thelin raced from the left side of the goal to kick it away and preserve the tie.  The final four minutes of the first overtime period played out with neither team threatening again.

Both teams had one shot on goal in the second overtime, but neither shot was a threat to score.  The own goal came just three and a half minutes from sending the teams home with a 1-1 draw.  The loss snapped the Yellowjackets’ 16-game home unbeaten streak.  The last time MSU Billings lost at home was October 29, 2003, when Rocky won—also in the 106^th minute—of a bitterly cold double overtime game.

With the victory Rocky gained the advantage in the annual race for the Rimrock Cup.  The traveling trophy is in its fourth year with the winner of the cross town home-and-home series gaining local bragging rights and the Cup until next season.  Rocky won the Cup the first two years, and MSU Billings won last year.  The Bears and Jackets will square off again on October 29 at Rocky to decide the 2005 Cup winner.

“That game was hard fought by both teams,” said Duffy.  “We are looking forward to the end of the month when they come to our place.”

Notes:  MSU Billings will host Carroll College on Saturday in the Yellowjackets’ final home game of the season…Rocky hosts the Saints on Friday in the first of four-straight home games to end the season…the Yellowjackets were ranked sixth in the NCAA II Midwest region in Wednesday’s first regional poll released by the NCAA regional committee.