BOZEMAN — Snowy conditions at Bozeman High School made it difficult for either team to control one side of the field, but before the ground was completely blanketed in snow, Bozeman's Sami Murphy scored the lone goal to ultimately advance the Hawks to the State AA girls soccer semifinals with a 1-0 win over Missoula Sentinel.
In the seventh minute, Murphy received the ball off a Sentinel deflection. Dribbling her way to the top of the goalie box, she punched it to the left of the net, where it hit the goal post and bounced into the back of the net.
The Spartans had several free kicks near the goal box but were not able to capitalize on them. One came near in the 30th minute on the right side of the goal. Kat Colyer floated a kick to the front of the net with the intention of one of her teammates punching it in, but Hawks goalkeeper AJ Battle swooped in for the save.
The Spartans tried to tie it up in the 60th minute, but an offsides penalty called back the potential equalizer. Jaden Salisbury broke away from a Hawks defender and tried to punch in the goal. Battle dove to the ground to block the kick, but Audrey McElmurry ran in to tap it into the back of the net. The goal was ultimately called back because of the offsides penalty.
The Hawks will travel to Kalispell next week to take on the Glacier Wolfpack in the State AA semifinals, which are scheduled to kick off Oct. 20.
For updated scores and pairings from the Class AA soccer playoffs, please click here.
