Aurora – It was just your average girls soccer playoff game – until the ghost ship rolled in.
With 17 minutes left in Wednesday’s Smoky Hill-Ponderosa game, a pea-soup fog rolled in with a vengeance, shrouding half of Legacy Stadium.
Both teams used the cover to score goals, but Ameera Abdullah’s was the game-winner as 13th-seeded Smoky Hill emerged from the fog with a 2-1 victory in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.
The Centennial League’s Buffaloes (11-4-1) took the lead in the 59th minute on a goal by Whitney Collins-Cephers. Three minutes after the fog arrived, No. 20 Ponderosa equalized on a long shot from midfielder Karissa Engels.
Two minutes later, Abdullah, an All-Colorado midfielder, gave the Buffs the win with a 50-yard run down the left side that had the Mustangs’ defense shorthanded.
“I was getting ready to pass it to Katie (Lynch), but (the defender) never stepped to me, so I just kept dribbling,” Abdullah said. “Then I just kind of cut it in and hit it.”
The Buffaloes advance to face Fort Collins.
Ponderosa, from the Continental League, saw its six-game unbeaten streak snapped and finished 7-6-3.
“We had our chances,” Ponderosa coach Jim Engels said. “I think their short passing in the second half really hurt us.”
Collins-Cephers broke the deadlock when she pounded home a loose ball after Abdullah’s free kick. Ponderosa goalie Emily Elliott punched the ball right to Collins-Cephers, who rifled a high shot into the net.
The game changed with the weather, setting up the frantic finish.
“That was crazy how it just came in,” Smoky Hill coach Betsy Sprafka said.
The Mustangs outshot the Buffs 5-3 in the first half and had the better scoring opportunities.
Ponderosa’s Megan Flanagan beat goalie Lauren Fensten in the fourth minute with a curling corner kick aimed at the far post. Fensten could not reach the ball, but defender Jennifer Ingolia was there to clear it off the line.
Smoky Hill nearly broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when Ponderosa’s defense botched a clearance and the ball fell to Lynch, who strode into the middle of the box and blasted a shot right into the hands of Elliott.
Ponderosa 0 1 – 1
Smoky Hill 0 2 – 2
Goals – SH: Collins-Cephers (unassisted), 59th minute; P: Engels (unassisted), 66th; SH: Abdullah (unassisted), 68th.
Shots on goal – Ponderosa 5-1 – 6; Smoky Hill 3-7 – 10. Saves – Ponderosa (Elliott) 3-5 – 8; Smoky Hill (Fensten) 4-0 – 4. Offsides – Ponderosa 1-0 – 1; Smoky Hill 0-0 – 0. Corner kicks – Ponderosa 2-0 – 2; Smoky Hill 2-1 – 3. Fouls – Ponderosa 3-6 – 9; Smoky Hill 5-5 – 10. Yellow card – Patterson, SH, 70th minute.
