BILLINGS, Mont. – Graham Delano scored a header goal directly off of a corner kick by Calvin Beck and Colorado Christian stunned Montana State Billings with a 1-0 victory in double overtime Friday evening at Yellowjacket Field.
In Game 2 of the Rimrock Classic sponsored by TNT Automotive & Marine, the Cougars and Yellowjackets battled through regulation and the first overtime period scoreless, before CCU broke through with the game-winner to improve to 3-0-0 on the season. With the loss, MSUB fell to 0-2-1 in 2014 and has gone to overtime in all three of its games.
Overall on the game, MSUB outshot CCU 16-14 and held a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Tom Lohmann tallied three saves for the 'Jackets while Brandon Eide came up with four for the Cougars.
The Cougars fired the first shot of the game as Weston Leake missed wide of the right post with a strike from the top of the 18-yard box. CCU earned another dangerous opportunity a few minutes later, but Calvin Beck's strike from inside the box curled wide of the post harmlessly.
Midway through the first half,
Thorge Jess and
Niklas Schregel combined several passes to work into CCU's box. Eide came up with a pair of saves within the span of a minute to keep the score at 0-0.
On the other side of the field,
Cameron Lee stepped into a gap to intercept a cross on a set piece by Luke Burgard and clear the ball out of the Yellowjackets' defensive third.
The most dangerous chance of the first half for either team came when Schregel controlled the ball around a pair of defenders and into the top of the box. He unleashed a strong, low shot headed for the lower left corner of the net, but Eide made a diving save to push the ball wide at the last second.
MSUB followed with four consecutive corner kicks, but Eide deflected a pair of them and the game remained scoreless.
Fresh into the game with less than six minutes to play in the first,
Colin Ralston fed a quality pass to the foot of
Rhys Lambert, whose shot from the top of the box sailed inches over the crossbar.
Lambert followed with another strong shot, this time from 25 yards out, but missed just high again.
Coming out of the halftime break strong, a near scoring opportunity started with a well-placed pass from Lambert to the foot of
Matt Brink. The senior defender played in a perfect cross from the right side of the field, and a header by Ralston rolled just outside of the far post.
The 'Jackets kept the pressure on moving into the middle part of the second, as
Kyle Emerick took advantage of a quick set piece in the box and won a corner. CCU cleared the ball out, and a low hard shot by Ralston a minute later was knocked down before it could reach the goal.
Lohmann came up huge on his first big test of the match, knocking down a hard shot directly on frame by Burgard to prevent the Cougars from taking the lead.
The Yellowjackets won three corners in the span of three minutes, and
Fernando Perez nearly pushed MSUB in front on a leaping header off a corner by Emerick. The effort sailed high and wide, and the teams remained scoreless moving into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Set up at perfect striking distance with a free kick from just outside the box, MSUB couldn't capitalize as a shot by Jess missed wide of the right post.
Ralston came even closer to scoring with six minutes remaining, as his shot from eight yards out glanced off of the outer side netting.
The Cougars took advantage of a counter attack with three minutes left, and Lohmann came off his line to make a sliding save on a shot by Eduard Svechuk to preserve the shutout.
Neither team found the net in the first overtime period, and with just one minute gone in the second CCU walked away with the big victory on the connection from Beck to Delano.
UP NEXT: MSUB takes on Colorado Mesa on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the final game of the Rimrock Classic.
