Lawrence High defender Leslie Ostronic battles for position against Free State forward Sabrea Platz during the girls soccer City Showdown on Thursday, April 27 at Free State.

Lawrence High senior midfielder Carson Drake drilled a shot from 30 yards away Thursday and brought the crowd at Free State to a silent pause.

In double overtime of the City Showdown, more than 95 minutes after the opening kickoff, Drake lofted the ball through the air. Somehow the ball was high enough to float over the outstretched arms of Free State’s goalkeeper, but sunk low enough to dip below the crossbar on the top of the net.

Drake’s golden goal, on a feed from sophomore teammate Anna Chieu, sparked bedlam on the field. It secured a 2-1 victory over the Firebirds, and players celebrated by jumping and down with joy before running over the bleachers to celebrate with their fans.

“I mean it was just like a perfect pass and I couldn’t not score,” Drake said. “I just had a wide open shot. She just looked up, saw me and had an amazing pass. It was right to my feet. Anna really did all of the hard work.”

Free State’s Sabrea Platz sprints to catch up to the ball in front of Lawrence High defender Leslie Ostronic during the girls soccer City Showdown on Thursday, April 27 at Free State.

Setting up Drake’s game-winner in sudden death overtime, Lawrence sophomore defender Leslie Ostronic passed the ball to electric senior forward Skylar Drum deep into attacking territory along the left sideline.

Drum dished to Chieu, who saw Drake running down the middle of the field. Once Drake settled the ball on her foot, she unleashed the shot that she’ll always remember.

“This is by far her best game,” Lawrence coach Matt McCune said of Drake. “Obviously it’s Free State, she’s pumped up.”

Chieu, who scored the game-winning goal in last year’s City Showdown, tied the score, 1-1, with 21 minutes remaining in regulation. LHS junior Maria Duncan took a free kick from about 25 yards away and found Chieu by the back post, who simply kicked it into the back of the net.

“I have to give the credit to Skylar,” Chieu said. “Skylar told me to go back post.”

The Lions (3-8) changed their formation in the second half, abandoning their wings for three center midfielders.

“That’s kind unheard of,” McCune said.

They wanted to challenge Free State’s talented midfield — Maya Hodison, Sydni Beeley and Eyerusalem Zicker, among others — for the ball and make it easier to distribute the ball to their forwards.

Lawrence created pressure with strong opportunities from Drum and sophomore Evann Seratte, but were kept off the scoreboard until Chieu’s goal because of the strong back line defense from Free State defenders Molly Bryant, Kate Odgers, Julia Larkin and Brittany Hoffman. Goalkeeper Jessica Ellebracht made eight saves.

The Firebirds (5-6-1), on their Senior Night, matched Lawrence’s offense and the two teams both took 15 shots each. Free State junior Sophia Bone scored on a cross from senior Sabrea Platz during the first half for an early 1-0 lead and her first goal of the season.

“I think we played a brilliant game today,” FSHS coach Kelly Barah said. “The ladies don’t have anything to put their heads down on.”

Free State’s Molly Bryant shields off Lawrence High's Sofie Christiansen during the girls soccer City Showdown on Thursday, April 27 at Free State.

But each time the Firebirds looked on the verge of adding to their lead, they just couldn’t find a way to shoot past LHS goalkeeper Olivia Lemus, who recorded seven saves.

Both teams had limited scoring chances in the overtimes until Drake lined up her game winner.

“We all really wanted to win this game,” Drake said, “so we went out and did it.”