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BILLINGS, Mont. – With only 12 seconds remaining, sophomore Jennifer Larsen (Mesa, AZ, Mountain View HS) took a pass from freshman Jackie Hill (Boise, ID, Borah HS), and struck the ball from about 30 yards past a diving Megan Walburn to lift Montana State Billings past the University of Great Falls in an exhibition match Thursday afternoon at Yellowjacket Field. It was the first of three exhibition matches for the Yellowjackets before the regular season opener on Friday, Sept. 3, against Dixie State.

“Today was a great match for us,” said head coach Don Trentham. “It was more about getting into playing shape and I'm pleased with where we are after only four days of training. I thought there were a lot of good things that we did today and we were able to create a lot of chances. Consistency was big positive for us as we didn't see a drop-off when we made substitutions.”

The Yellowjackets saw plenty of opportunities throughout the game as they outshot the Argos 20-2, including eight that were on goal. MSUB tallied six corner kicks while never surrendering one to UGF.

The Yellowjackets had an early scoring chance when senior, Kari Foreman (Lakewood, CO, Bear Creek HS), took a pass on the run and put the ball in the back of the net, but was called offside at the 23:43 mark. Another great chance came for the Yellowjackets when sophomore Andrea Baytaluke (Calgary, Alberta, Central Memorial HS) took a shot at the 29:44 mark, but this time the chance went right of the post.

One of the best chances for the Jackets came at 67:20 when Baytaluke went one-on-one with Walburn and the ball knuckled off the right post, then the rebound was sent just wide right.

The Yellowjackets were able to stay aggressive on the ball and finally broke through as the clock wound down. It was then that freshman keeper Sabrina Grandke-Bawab (Kirkland, WA, Juanita HS) punted the ball to midfield and off the head of Hill straight to Larsen for the score.

MSUB used 22 players in the game, allowing many of the newcomers to gain more experience and the team to get accustomed to one and other. Between the posts, senior Jordan Fenwick (Boise, ID, Boise HS) and Grandke-Bawab made one save each as they split time with junior, Danielle Gordon (Atkins, IA, Iowa Western CC).