Her overtime goal gave the Pride a 1-0 victory over visiting Panther Creek.

“It was really exciting,” Bronson said. “To be a senior and score the winning goal in a playoff game is an unbelievable feeling, especially on a header. Those are hard to do.”

On Friday – the day the game began – Leesville (20-1-1) dominated possession and field position for most of the first half. The Pride had some good looks at the goal on a handful of occasions, but Catamounts sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Francis was up to the challenge every time. Francis stopped three shots from inside 10 yards to keep the game knotted at zero.

“(Panther Creek’s) goalkeeper played excellently,” Pride coach Paul Dinkenor said. “A couple of her saves in the first half were purely instinctive.”

Panther Creek’s best shot at a first-half goal came at the 18:40 mark, but the ball hit the crossbar and ricocheted back over the football goalpost onto the track.

Leesville continued to keep pressure on the Catamounts’ defense in the second half, and with 34:14 left it looked as if it would finally pay off.

The Pride’s Caroline Gentry chased the ball down in the left corner and fired a pass across the field to an open Mary Kate Bowers, who was centered and ready to shoot. Bowers controlled the pass and took the shot, but just as she had before, Francis stoned it to preserve the tie.

Then the thunderstorms came.

At the 31 minute mark, the lightning started and the rain followed. Officials cleared the field and the stands, and after more than an hour of waiting the decision was made to finish on Monday.

When play resumed, Leesville went right back to its aggressive offensive style. And again, Panther Creek (15-5-1) was able to weather the storm.

In the final 20 minutes of regulation, the Catamounts applied a little offensive pressure themselves. At the 18-minute mark, Ashley Clark had a breakaway, but came up empty. Three minutes later, they nearly converted on a corner kick, but it wasn’t to be.

Clark ended her senior year with 28 goals in 21 games. The Campbell recruit ends her career as the school's all-time leader in goals and assists.

“On Friday, the game was played at such a furious pace,” Panther Creek coach Leigh Haase said. “We couldn’t get a lot of opportunities. (On Monday) I feel like we outplayed them, but they got the goal. Unfortunately, that’s how it goes sometimes.”

When the game went to the first overtime period, it looked a lot like the first two halves. Both teams had looks but couldn’t finish – until late.

With less than a minute left, Leesville seriously threatened again. Panther Creek stopped the shot, but the ball flew out of bounds and set up the Pride for a corner kick.

Leesville had come close a couple of times earlier in the game, but this time Bronson was able to rise above the defense and send the ball bouncing into the back of the net with just 21 seconds left in the period.

The Pride defense preserved the lead throughout the second overtime period. The Catamounts were the aggressors in the final 10 minutes, but Leesville’s back line held up.

“Individually and as a unit we played well defensively late in the game,” Dinkenor said. “We lived dangerously, but we survived.

“This was a game of heart, pure and simple.”