It was a nailbiter to the very end for Bainbridge High School in a bitter cold lose-and-out playoff soccer match vs. the Lakes Lancers, but a perfect overtime shootout capped by the game-winning shot from junior Arden De Lanoy kept the Spartans season alive at Mount Tahoma High School Oct. 26.

“We’ve had such a roller-coaster of a season,” Spartan coach Katie Drovdahl said amid the chaos of postgame leaping hugs, “and they deserve all this celebration.”

The match very well could have ended in a Bainbridge victory much sooner after De Lanoy broke the drawn-out 0-0 tie with just over three minutes remaining in the second half on a rebounded shot from a free kick by senior Riley Becker.

The jubilation on the Spartan sideline lasted just over a minute, the Lancers being presented with and taking advantage of a critical corner kick inside the two-minute mark to knot the match back up.

“We just can’t allow those kinds of shots to happen,” Drovdahl said.

Not many teams can come back from a mistake like that, but Lanoy said that this is one of those teams. “Like our coach always says, we are going to stop and start moving forward and not think about the mistakes,” she said.

Two uneventful five-minute overtime periods led to a shootout, in which the legs of Bainbridge’s upperclassmen were allowed to shine. Shots from junior captain Grace Rich, senior captain Maya Fletcher, junior Laine Romney and senior Gabriella Weis all found the net, and a costly missed shot from the Lancers’ electric sophomore Braelyn Carey that sailed over the crossbar left Lakes behind by one going into the final shot.

Avery Pujolar found herself in position to prove herself in the clutch with the last shot. When asked what was going through her head in her approach to the ball, she said, “I feel like everybody’s put so much work in this season, and I wanted to continue that effort for everybody.”

Drovdahl added: “She’s an amazing player. She was a starter as a freshman, and she’s one of the anchors of our defense. I think especially this season, we’ve seen her grow into a more complete player, and it’s good to see her get to shine in moments like this.”

And shine she did, guiding the ball past the Lancer goalkeeper into the net to keep her team’s state playoff hopes alive.

The Spartans will take to the turf again this weekend for an in-county matchup with Central Kitsap Oct. 28.