Frontier Conference dominates opening day of Red Lion Challenge

The Frontier Conference dominated the first day of competition | Photos: Gerald Barnhart - GALLERIES

The Frontier Conference won four of the five games Friday afternoon in Spokane, Washington at the Red Lion Challenge against competition from the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Action on the day included a pair of rather one-sided, eight-goal men’s contests while the ladies battled to three one-goal decisions with five total goals, including one that finished in overtime.

Rachel Saleen

W: Northwest University 1 :: 0 Carroll College

The day began with the Northwest University women claiming the sole victory for the CCC on the day courtesy of a 17th minute tally from Rachel Saleen (Boise, ID) that came as the Eagles began to reverse the early control of the match by Carroll College.

The Saints had a pair of chances in the first five minutes. Macie Netz (Great Falls, MT) got to a long ball in the box in the third minute, but her shot from about 10 yards was stopped by Patty Hughes (Kalispell, MT), who earned the shutout with seven saves. Two minutes later Haley Jensen’s (Clancy, MT) effort off of a low cross went wide left of the post on a dangerous chance.

Northwest nearly went up a minute before Saleen’s strike when Acacia Johnson got to a loose ball behind the back line, but a defender recovered well on the play and made things difficult, forcing her away from making a quality effort at goal.

M: College of Idaho 3 :: 5 Rocky Mountain College

The Oliver Gore show continues. Chris Jermy found him twice in the first 12 minutes to give the Montana school a two-goal advantage, but the Yotes did not go quietly. Brandon Smith scored from 12 yards courtesy of Nikolas Moreno (Idaho Falls, ID) five minutes later and in the 21st minute a penalty conversion by Yan Gioseffi leveled matters.

Oliver Gore

Gore was unstoppable though. In the 23rd he got his head on a long ball from his goalkeeper Joachim Soderstrom to reclaim the lead and four minutes before the break he drove through the center of the box to finish from about eight yards to push the lead back to two once again.

“It was a good first half with five goals between the two teams in the first 25 minutes, so it was a pretty open game,” said head coach Richard Duffy. “Another solid performance from Oliver Gore in the game with five goals. We did a good job, creating some chances by getting the ball wide and getting the ball in the box. Pretty happy with the performance.”

The Englishman added his fifth of the contest in the 49th minute off a corner kick from Mikey Wall (Billings, MT).

It was over for College of Idaho though. In the 58th minute a ball over the top created a race between Soderstrom and Joseph Bolin (Payette, ID) with the keeper diving to knock the ball away from Bolin’s feet about 15 yards out. The ball, however, skipped away and Bolin had a second chance at an open goal only to see Ronaldo Goncalves recover to block the attempt on the way to goal inside the six.

Seven minutes later Nick Camporini forced a great reaction save and in the 69th minute a diving header from Andres Idoeta (Boise, ID) went high.

The Yotes finally found an answer when an excellent Gioseffi free kick from the arc went over the wall and just inside the right post against RMC’s second-string keeper, but came with only four minutes left as was the team’s last serious chance.

W: College of Idaho 1 :: OT :: 2 Rocky Mountain College

A scoreless first half with no real quality chances for either side gave way to a much more lively contest in the second stanza. It only took five minutes before Shea Yuma, formerly of Walla Walla CC, showed that things would be different, sending a shot off the woodwork.

It would take a little while, though, for things to really develop with Rocky Mountain beginning to take control of the contest after the hour mark. In the 66th minute Therese Hagbyhn sent a shot with moderate pace from about 16 yards toward the right post only to see the keeper dive and parry it away. Three minutes later Samantha Houle’s shot off a cross from Mandi Achten (Billings, MT) tested the keeper again.

Alex Harvey

At the 70-minute mark, however, RMC finally broke the stalemate on a lengthy build-up. Jaelene Zygmond (Billings, MT) sent the ball wide right to Houle, who crossed the ball into the box where it was redirected by Achten in the middle of the box out left to Alex Harvey (Billings, MT) on the left side. Harvey fired uncontested from about 13 yards out to the center of the goal that the outstretched keeper was able to get a piece of, but not enough to keep it from dropping over the line.

Things got a little more interesting from there. Three minutes later Yuma got to a ball centrally behind the defense after a turnover, but goalkeeper Malin Johansson, who had charged out, dropped to make an excellent block. The ball, though, rebounded out partially to the right side of the box where Reilly Coyle (Boise, ID) launched a shot to the open goal from about 14 yards out, but defender Danielle Wilcox recovered just in time to block the ball in the six en route to goal.

With five minutes left to go for the win, things turned tragic for the hero defender Wilcox as she blindly played the ball back to the keeper unaware that the she had come forward on the play. Johansson quickly turned to chase the ball in a race with Yuma, but the Yotes striker was able to get her foot to it at the last second as it neared the goal line, tapping it in as the keeper slid in with an attempt to clear and sending the game to overtime.

Extra time belonged to Rocky Mountain though. Seven minutes into the first period a dangerous corner dropped into the six, but nobody was able to finish amidst the scramble. A minute into the second period with the ball heading away from goal toward the right Achten got to the ball inside the box and cut a cross back across her bod to the far left side where Harvey’s first-time attempt went wide left.

Harvey got a second chance two minutes later though and made no double with a wide open goal. The goal was created by a cross from Zygmond that come from the outer right corner of the area to Hagbyhn on the left side. Her effort was stopped by goalkeeper Melissa Holmes-Joseph, who dropped to make the block, but the ball popped back to the wide open Harvey just a couple yards away for a calmly placed winner from about nine yards out.

M: Northwest Christian 1 :: 7 University of Great Falls 

Goals from Andrew Gillen and Paul Sliwa on balls from Juan Valderrama gave the Argos a two-goal advantage at the break but the second half was no better for the Beacons as Great Falls added five more before they could find a goal of their own in consolation.

Luis Torres and Renan Zampieri scored twice with Danny Delgadillo also adding to the tally for UGF. Joshua Martin provided the lone NCU strike in the 76th.

W: Northwest Christian 0 :: 1 University of Great Falls

Though the day featured overcast skies throughout that threatened to rain, only a few sprinkles came down until a very light shower fell at times during the final contest of the night. The contest on the field, meanwhile was a back-and-forth affair that saw few dangerous chances.

The Beacons saw a dangerous corner that dropped in the middle of the box go for naught in the 10th minute of the contest and nine minutes later Great Falls took advantage of a dead ball opportunity.

Danielle De La Vina struck a fantastic free kick from well out on the left side that soared over everyone in the box and found the far side netting of the goal for what held as the game-winner, though Northwest Christian came within inches of pulling even twice.

Five minutes into the second half with the ball bouncing forward inside the area Kaitlyn Moore flicked the ball to her right to Melyssa Weber, who sent a lobbed ball over the keeper only to see it ricochet off the left post and narrowly missed being knocked in by her teammate that charged in on the play.

Later in the half a Jacque Bundtrock free kick from 40 yards out beat the keeper, going off the top of her fingers only to slam off the right post right behind her.

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