With 'Goal of the Century', Bears pick up dramatic soccer win over Boise State

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GREELEY, Colo. – For the second time in as many games, the Northern Colorado women's soccer team won in dramatic fashion, this time scoring a late goal to beat Boise State 3-2 at Jackson Stadium.

In as close to a Hail Mary play as it gets in soccer, Kimmie Feidler struck a 40-yard shot into the upper-right corner of the net with just five seconds on the clock to give the Bears the lead and the win.

With the victory, the Bears move their record to 7-3-1 along with winning three of their first four in front of the home crowd in Greeley.

After waiting 96 minutes to score a goal in Friday's 1-0 overtime victory over New Mexico State, Northern Colorado did not waste any time getting on the scoreboard Sunday. Just 46 seconds into the game, Danielle Birdsall found herself on a breakaway after receiving a pass from Ariel Cook. Birdsall dribbled past Bronco goalkeeper Liz Ruiz and put the goal away, staking the Bears to an early 1-0 lead with her fifth goal of the season.

"It's always great to get an early goal," said Northern Colorado head coach Tim Barrera. "Sometimes, when you get that first goal like that, you lose a little bit of the intensity. I thought we did a good job dealing with that today."

The Bears kept the pressure on as senior Brittani Knott scored her second goal of the year on another assist by Ariel Cook. Knott headed Cook's deflected pass into the lower-right corner of the goal.

Before the half ended however, Boise State cut the Bears' lead in half with a goal from Ebie Harris in the 41st minute.

In the second half, Katy Oehring's goal knotted up the score at 2-2 in the 73rd minute.

"We knew Boise State would come back," Barrera said. "They are a very skillful as well as the defending WAC champions."

For the next 18 minutes, both teams traded scoring opportunities, with the Bears getting a number of chances off corner kicks in the second half. Northern Colorado goalkeeper Kirstin Salminen came up big for the Bears, making nine saves on the day.

With just five seconds remaining, Olivia Deadmond took a throw-in from just inside the midfield line and threw it to Feidler. The junior midfielder turned and struck the ball from 40 yards out into the back of the net. All Ruiz could do was watch as the ball sailed over her head and just inside the crossbar, giving the Bears the victory.

"We were fortunate to get the goal of the century from Kimmie," Barrera said. "We certainly weren't expecting make to make that kind of shot. That's one of those tape-measure shots that we couldn't replicate if we tried for the next three of four months."

The win is a great way for the Bears to wrap up their non-conference portion of the schedule and will provide them with some confidence going into conference play.

Next up for Northern Colorado is a two-game road-trip beginning Thursday, Oct. 7 when the team travels to Ogden, Utah to take on Weber State in its conference opener.