BILLINGS, Mont. – Liberty Palmer's team-leading fourth goal of the season and another heroic performance by goalkeeper Clare Keenan lifted the Montana State University Billings women's soccer team to a 1-1, double-overtime draw against No. 8 Seattle Pacific University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Saturday at Yellowjacket Field.
 
The Yellowjackets (5-5-3, 2-4-2 GNAC) avenged a 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Falcons (9-1-1, 6-1-1) on Sept. 23 in Seattle, and played the eighth-ranked team in the country toe-to-toe for 110 minutes. "The biggest thing we said coming into this was, 'be brave,'" Keenan said. "It's really easy to come into a game like this and be intimidated, but this team fought hard the entire time and I couldn't be more proud of that fight."
 
The second-year Yellowjacket goalkeeper was once again at the forefront of the most important moments of the match, making six saves to highlight a gutsy defensive effort by the team. The moment of the match came with less than two minutes left in regulation, when SPU's Jacqueline Blakeley beat her mark on the right side of the field and sent a dangerous cross towards the six-yard box. Keenan burst away from her near post to save a shot by Lauren Forster, before leaping back to her feet and making another diving save on Makena Rietz's ensuing strike towards an open net.


 
"Focusing on the mentality portion of the game was the biggest thing for me," Keenan responded when asked about her double save at the end of regulation. "Mindfulness is really important to me, and you reset so you are always present in the game. Whether whatever that happened before was good or bad, you have to be present in the moment, and that is a huge part of goalkeeping."
 
The result of Keenan's saves was one of SPU's 10 corner kicks in the match, but she and the back line held tough through the closing minute and throughout two overtime periods to secure the point. "It was fantastic from her today, and she is the reason why we got something from this game," MSUB head coach Stephen Cavallo commented on Keenan. "It's hard kicking against the wind, and we asked her to be specific about playing it wide. She did a great job of pushing through it, and I am really proud of her performance."
 
Playing with a gusting wind at their backs in the opening half, the Yellowjackets stunned the Falcons by pulling ahead in the 25th minute. Leila Clark intercepted a slow pass in the middle of the pitch, before touching a perfectly-weighted pass through the SPU back line. Palmer took one touch to get past her defender, before tucking a left-footed strike through the legs of oncoming Falcon goalkeeper Kaitlynn Knocke. "First of all I just want to highlight Leila, because that ball was an impossible through ball and she just slipped it right in perfectly," Palmer said on the goal-scoring play. "I just tried to find an opening, and it happened to be right through the keeper's legs. I was very happy about it."


 
Palmer's finish was the result of an encouraging start to the match for MSUB, which had three of its five first-half shots in the opening 25 minutes of play. "We keep reminding her that you're getting in the right spots, and that those finishes will come," Cavallo commented on Palmer, who had a similar chance on Thursday denied by Northwest Nazarene goalkeeper Alexis Montoya. "We made a move to play her more centrally, for basically the exact play that she finished. I'm really proud of her for sticking with it. Four goals for a freshman is a great stat line, and hopefully she has got more to come."
 
The Falcons got even midway through the second half, on the team-leading seventh goal of the season by Forster. Creating space on the left wing, Forster got a right-footed shot off from the top of the box that took a deflection of an MSUB defender and redirected into the net in the 68th minute. "It just makes it so much harder to clear your lines, and it makes for an unpredictable game," Cavallo said on a day that featured sustained winds upwards of 25 miles per hour. "It was clear that the team that was playing with the wind had more chances and looked more dangerous."
 
SPU didn't go without chances over the final 45 minutes of play, out-shooting MSUB 12-1 during its turn playing with the howling wind. Senior captain Lexie Bloyder contributed a stellar defensive performance, and was joined by Hailee Gertsch and Haylee Gunter in playing the full 110 minutes to help limit the Falcon offense to one goal. "We really had to dig deep, because it's not easy to play 20 extra minutes in a game," said Palmer. "We stayed strong and held our line. The back line did phenomenal, Clare made great saves, and it was overall a great performance from us."
 
The point for the 'Jackets helped them keep pace in the GNAC standings, as the team moved two points behind Western Oregon in sixth place. Saturday's match, which marked the beginning of the second half of GNAC play, also served as a morale boost after the team's difficult 1-0 loss to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday. "Towards the beginning of the semester we talked about defining the team, and part of our identity is resilience this year," Keenan said. "It really shows that the team has worked hard to encapsulate that and has thought about what it means to people on a personal level and a team level. How to deal with hard losses, how to deal with hard opponents, and that's something you need in the GNAC."
 
Clark led the Yellowjackets with two shots on goal in the match, while Palmer made hers count and Jordan Roe added an on-target attempt. Jillian Hust played 56 effective minutes in her second start of the season, while Ally Findlay contributed 98 minutes at center back and Sydney Wate continued her strong play at outside back over 90 minutes on Saturday. "I am super proud of my team," said Palmer. "We came out here battling hard, and of course we had a chip on our shoulder because of the last game. I think we all showed up and fought hard to produce the result today."
 
The Falcons, who entered the match No. 1 in the NCAA with just two goals conceded through their first 10 matches of the year, were without goalkeeper Riley Travis, who ranked fourth in the nation with a .229 goals-against average, for the second-straight match. Knocke made three saves throughout the match, while Madison Ibale played the full 110 minutes on the defensive unit for SPU. "Every game is a character test in this conference," said Cavallo. "We tried to frustrate them and keep them off the scoreboard for as long as possible, and I'm definitely very proud of the team for responding to a disappointing loss against NNU on Thursday."
 
THE BUZZ: Keenan was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…Keenan entered the day No. 2 in the GNAC in saves and upped her season total to 52 for an average of 5.2 saves per game…Clark's assist was her second of the season…the 'Jackets remained undefeated in overtime matches this season, with a record of 1-0-3 in four games…all three double-overtime draws have been by the score of 1-1…MSUB is now 4-23-3 all-time against SPU and is 2-9-1 in matches played at Yellowjacket Field…MSUB earned its first result against a nationally-ranked opponent since a 1-0 win over then-No. 22 Seattle Pacific on Nov. 1, 2012 to reach the GNAC Championship title game.
 
NEXT WEEK: MSUB faces Simon Fraser University and No. 23 Western Washington University on the road next week. Live coverage for the matches will be available online here.