Skyview, West girls, West boys win

In the first of two crosstown games at the main turf facility in the park, Billings Skyview’s girls moved on to the quarterfinals following two extra-time periods and a penalty shootout against Billings Senior. The Falcons advance to play the Western AA’s top seed, Missoula Sentinel, on the road at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Billings West’s boys, meanwhile, avoided any late drama in the nightcap against Skyview and got the job done in regulation, earning the Golden Bears and reigning Class AA runner-up a date with second-seeded Helena Capital at 2 p.m. Saturday at Helena’s Northwest Park.

West’s girls played Great Falls CMR simultaneously to Skyview-Senior on an adjacent grass field at Amend and walloped the Rustlers by a seven-goal margin. They’ll also be on the road for their quarterfinal match, facing Missoula Hellgate at 5 p.m. Friday at Fort Missoula Regional Park. 

Tenley Leffler wasn’t going to be denied.

The Falcons’ goalkeeper, even as she was peppered with shots by the Broncs’ attack for 100 minutes of play, let in an equalizer in regulation and missed the opening kick of the penalty shootout, had no plans to let Skyview’s season end on her watch.

The junior only let in one of the Broncs’ final four penalties taken (including a big save on Senior’s third kick-taker) as the Falcons in return converted three of their final four spot kicks, with a Senior miss on the final attempt sealing fifth-seeded Skyview’s ticket to the next round of postseason play this weekend.

It was a full-circle moment for Skyview, which was eliminated in the first round of last year’s playoffs on the same Amend Park turf by a different crosstown opponent, West. But instead of heartbreak, only joy was on the Falcons’ faces this time around.

“Tenley’s been huge,” Skyview coach Melissa Dugger said. “She’s just been locked in. … I’m so proud of them, from the beginning of the season, they just bought into me, had trust in me, and I’m happy that I got to see them hold off all 80 minutes, fight until the end, get that overtime and then keep their composure and get the win.”

A scoreless first half opened up quickly after halftime when Skyview’s Rae Smart scored directly off of a corner kick, giving the Falcons the breakthrough. But Senior pushed hard to make it level, and the Broncs got the tying goal they wanted when Meadow Mahlmeister — a Lockwood transfer who had a head-spinning 31 goals and 10 assists with the Lions last year — ripped a shot from outside the 18-yard box that was near-impossible for Leffler to stop.

As the stands gradually filled with visitors from the then-concluded West-CMR game nearby, the tension ramped up with it, though neither team managed to find a winner through the two extra periods. But with all eyes watching and little room for error in the shootout, Skyview’s calm and collected showing made for a loud statement victory.

“You’ve got to stay locked in, and that’s what they did,” Dugger said. “And when you do those things and you keep your composure, you come out on top.”

Luke Ashmore made keeping good defensive shape a priority Tuesday, since the West coach knows what can happen to the Golden Bears if they get burned.

Case in point: Skyview won its last meeting against West seven days prior by a 1-0 margin, as the Falcons got in behind the Bears’ back line and converted a chance — the only chance they needed as West was shut out.

Whatever Ashmore has drilled in tactically to West over the past week, it worked wonders Tuesday.

Though it took awhile before the Bears totally got into a groove with a commanding lead, third-seeded West played largely mistake-free soccer and didn’t let the Falcons pick up a second win over it in what would’ve been the worst timing possible.

“One of the biggest things going into this game (was) just making sure defensively, there were no errors,” Ashmore said. “We always have to be solid back there. And so to have that shutout, I know it’s going to bode well for our center backs’ confidence, too.”

Of course, it helps when your defenders get involved in the scoring, too.

With West dominant in possession in the first half, back-liner Colt Gust got a goal that had been coming by heading in a corner kick with 7:58 left before the intermission, settling the Bears’ nerves and giving them a halftime lead.

West was in clear control of the game’s flow the rest of the way, but Skyview was still in arm’s reach — until, in a flash, it wasn’t. Bears left winger Ryan Gott was the super substitute as his performance garnered a shoutout from Ashmore, assisting Kyler Fix’s goal with 10:13 left to make it two and creating the chance that led to a Skyview own goal less than a minute later to make it three.

“I was happy because we stayed patient,” Ashmore said. “We moved the ball well, we knew those chances were going to come, and I’m really happy the boys found them even in the dying moments of the game. They still wanted to go forward and find that chance.”

Particularly after his team started October with three draws and a loss in its first four games of the month, West coach Rob Zimmerman wondered if he was ever going to see the Golden Bears hit another gear.

Outscoring their last two opponents 18-1 makes it certainly look like West has found a new level to its game.

Five different players scored as the Bears roared past the Rustlers in a match that had much less drama (but plenty more scoring) than the crosstown match going on at the same time feet away, with West making quick work of CMR by putting five goals away by halftime.

“We struggle at the opening whistle a little bit, getting into a game right away, and we talked about it today and we’ve been talking about it for awhile,” Zimmerman said. “A point of emphasis today was to get a good early start and get after it right away and try to put the pressure on them as much as they can.”

Adison Aspinwall, Adriana Davey and Kaitlyn Cross all had braces while Reese Jeffers and Grace Curnow rounded out West’s scoresheet, helping it emphatically follow up its 10-0 victory over Belgrade in its regular-season finale last week. Brooke Krum scored CMR’s only goal as the Rustlers’ season ended with a 2-11-2 record.