Who ever said soccer wasn’t a contact sport? The players from Fairbanks and Columbus School for Girls would have disagreed Tuesday evening. In the above photo, FHS’ Elaina Lahmers (5) falls to the ground after colliding with Unicorn keeper Emma Spangler. In the bottom photo, Lahmers does a face plant after Spangler makes a save. Pictured in the background of the bottom photo is Rebecca Dean of Fairbanks, who was also involved in the collision. Dean was credited with the eventual winning goal with 30 seconds left in sudden victory overtime. (Journal-Tribune photos by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks High School girls soccer coach Randy Spain must be clairvoyant, or someone who can see into the future.
“We knew two great teams were going to go after it hard and I felt one goal would decide the match,” he said.
Spain was referring to Tuesday evening’s Division III district semifinal contest that pitted his No. 2 seeded Lady Panthers against No. 3 Columbus School for Girls.
The contest, which was played on the FHS pitch, was such a battle the Lady Panthers went to the final 30 seconds of sudden victory overtime to claim a 1-0 victory.
The goal came after Fairbanks (12-6) had numerous chances to score during the nearly two-hour battle.
“We had opportunities (during regulation),” said Spain. “We just couldn’t finish them.”
The Lady Panthers sent 18 shots on goal toward Unicorn keeper Emma Spangler.
She made a great many stellar stops (17), but there was one she couldn’t keep from going into the net.
The goal that sent FHS into the district title match for only the second time in program history came in rather unusual fashion.
Spangler came up with her final save of the night on a shot by Fairbanks’ Ellie Carter.
Scant seconds later, the Lady Panthers were awarded a corner kick on an out-of-bounds play.
Rebecca Dean lined up the kick with the hopes of finding an open teammate near the net.
The kick took a turn and hit the side of the net post.
It spun in an awkward fashion and edged past the end line off a defender’s foot for the score right before Spangler could jump on it for another save.
Dean was credited with the goal by the team.
The shot, which came with 30 ticks remaining in the first 15-minute sudden victory OT session, gave the Lady Panthers the walk-off victory.
Fairbanks now has a date with No. 1 seeded Grandview (12-2-2) for the district championship.
The match will be played on Saturday.
The time and location had not been determined by presstime.
“I really didn’t think the ball was going to go into the net,” said Dean with a huge smile after nearly 95 minutes of exhausting action.
“I was shocked when a goal was signaled,” she added, “but I was happy.”
While both teams swapped field position and ball possession for much of the night, the Lady Panthers had far more opportunities for goals during regulation.
Spangler was bombarded by numerous shot attempts from among others, Addie Thrush, Elaina Lahmers, Anna Poling, Dean and Carter.
She was able to deny the Lady Panthers through 80 minutes of regulation and nearly 15 minutes of extra play.
On the other hand, the FHS defense did a solid job of keeping pressure off keeper Madi Cook.
Although Cook had some clears on goal pressures, the Lady Unicorns managed only four of what were considered to be actual shot attempts.
Cook turned back each challenge.
Other Unicorn drives to the goal were thwarted when Panther defenders clogged passing or running lanes.
The defensive battle waged by both sides necessitated overtime since a winner must be determined during post-season competition.
Had the 0-0 stalemate continued through the end of the initial OT session, a second 15-minute overtime would have been conducted.
The first team that would have scored would be declared the winner.
If no verdict had been rendered after two overtimes, the game would have gone to kicks against each team’s keeper.
Dean made sure that didn’t have to happen.