GREAT FALLS, Mont. - For 88 and a half minute, the University of Providence and the College of Idaho women's soccer teams battled to a scoreless stalemate. With 90 seconds left, the game seemed destined for overtime when a CI foul set up a Lady Argo free kick from 35 yards outs. Junior set piece specialist Sydney Knieriem stepped to it and ambitiously went for the win. Her line drive shot cut through the blustering wind and planted itself in the upper left corner of the net just out of the reach of the Yotes goalkeeper.

UP hung on for the following 90 seconds to secure a 1-0 win and keep Knieriem the hero of the day.

"Honestly, I just wanted to get the ball on frame. I just thought, 'hit it and see what happens,'" Knieriem said. "I was hoping it would go in but I didn't know when I hit it. Then I saw it dip and thought 'it's got to' and it did. I've never hit a game winner like that before, so this is awesome. I'm pumped."

Based on the stats, the Lady Argos deserved the win. They outshot the Yotes 14-6 with 7 shots on goal to CI's 2. That being said, there were plenty of moments where the game could have gone the other way.

Through the first 10 minutes of the game, it was the Yotes that looked in control of the game. C of I got off 2 shots in quick succession, including what was probably the best scoring chance of the entire contest. The initial shot came from Emily Aspden and was blocked by a Lady Argo defender. The ball then popped loose right around the penalty spot with no defender in sight. C of I's Morgan Childs beat UP's goalkeeper Dakota Neumann to the ball by a couple yards and as Neumann got low to cut down the angle, Childs shot and put the ball a few feet over the middle of the net.
 
With a sigh of relief, the Lady Argos went on the offensive with junior Roxanne Hoffman getting the game's first shot on goal in 19th minute.
 
The Yotes got a few more good looks over the next 10 minutes or so, but as the half wore on, UP started to take over. By the end of the first half, UP has 6 shots to the Yote's, 3, 2 corner kicks to the Yote's 1, and the only shot on goal of the half.
 
That trend continued in the second half. By the 61st minute, UP had 5 shots, 2 shots on goal, and 2 corner kicks while the Yotes had yet to make any type of advance on the Lady Argo net.
 
All of that momentum could have come away for UP in the 67th minute. A dangerous ball was played into the Lady Argo penalty box, but it looked like Neumann would get there in time. At the last second, and C of I forward took a desperation swing and got all of the ball. The hard shot met Neumann just a foot or two after it was struck, and the Lady Argo's only true goalkeeper on the roster went down.
 
Play initially continued and the ball fall to another Yote player with a look at an open net from about 20 yards out, but the shot went wide left.
 
While UP dodged the initial bullet, Neumann had to come out leaving goalie duties to junior forward Malena Lennon who has been practicing in goal for one practice a week.
 
With Lennon in goal, the Lady Argo defense, which already hadn't allowed a goal all half buckled down even more. Lennon was called on to make her first career save in the 69th minute, but it was on a long shot that wasn't too threatening.
 
Despite 2 more shots on goal and another corner kick for UP in the next 19 minutes, the score was still deadlocked when Knieriem stepped to her free kick with a minute and half left before overtime.
 
The goal continues a breakout season for the junior. She now has 5 on the year, after scoring 2 goals as a freshman and 1 goal as a sophomore. Of her 5 goals in 2017, 2 have been game winners. The other game winner was also on a set piece, a perfectly curled corner kick in the 53rd minute of a 3-2 win over Northwest Christian.
 
The last minute winner brings the Lady Argo's record to 4-5 (3-2) and had the team tied for fourth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings with 9 points. Next for UP will be a rematch against Rocky Mountain College who beat UP 6-1 in Billings, Montana earlier this year in non-conference play. The Lady Argos were a very different team then and are hoping for a very different result. That game will start at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 7 on Argo Field.