It was Sunday afternoon’s 10-minute party in Missoula as the South Campus Stadium roared to celebrate Meisa Walters’ first career goal as a grizzly.
Her heel-flick finish in the 80th minute gave Montana a 1-0 lead at Fresno State before beating one of the better teams in the Mountain West Conference to give the home team its first signing win of the season. I got
However, the celebration was short-lived and was not extended until after the match, as there were still 11 minutes left in the match.
The Bulldogs broke hearts from the bench to the grandstand when they scored the equalizer with a well-earned goal with just 53 seconds left in regulation that turned the Grizzlies’ win into a 1-1 draw.
It would have been Montana’s first victory over Fresno State.
“Kudos to them for their tenacity and not giving up, but we should have closed it,” said manager Chris Sitwicki. “I think we deserved a little more, but it’s our fault we didn’t finish it.
“The football gods didn’t bless us like that today.”
Walters’ late goal didn’t have to be Montana’s first goal of the afternoon. Skylee Thompson redirected a cross just to the side of goal in the first half and Ava Samuelsson shot from the right post in the second half.
The team, which had no punches in Thursday’s 0-0 deadlock with Colorado State, had a lot on Sunday, but only had one goal to show for it.
“Overall I’m happy with how we played the game. We created a lot of good opportunities,” Sitwicki said. “We should have taken them, because we didn’t, they were able to stay in the game and scored a really nice goal at the end.”
Montana played a mostly one-sided game in the first 30 minutes of Sunday, taking the first seven shots of the game and holding Fresno State without a try until 33 minutes.
However, nothing appeared on the scoreboard as the team went to the locker room scoreless.
The second half was a more balanced match until Walters drew at 78:39.
Ava Samuelson found space on the left side of the field and played the ball across the box to Kayla Rendon Bushmaker.
The speedy freshman tracked it down and sent it back towards the goal, before heeling inside the far post from five yards out, Walters nearly allowed the ball to pass her.
“I was really happy to get one, especially because I had a chance.
“We were performing perfectly well until the last minute of the match and they broke us from there. But it’s something to learn from.”
As disappointing as the Equalizer was, it was a well-executed finish by the Bulldogs.
Bailey Beach on the right played the ball to Kaelin Miller, who single-touched it past Kamelia Shoe and into the front of goal.
Montana beat their seventh opponent in eight games this season and picked up their sixth corner kick. The Grizzlies also owned 54% of possession on Sunday.
The opening 89 minutes should not be forgotten, even though the belly punch remains in the final minute.
“The energy from the bench to the subs, to the players on the field, to people doing 120-yard sprints just to get back on defense. It’s exactly what you want,” Walters said.
“We are mostly in the conference right now, so I think the overall performance going forward is good.”
Montana will play Boise State (3-2-2) at 5pm Thursday and host North Dakota State (4-2-2) in the Grizzlies’ final non-conference game next Sunday at 11am. increase.
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