In the last minute of what was set to be another deflating, bordering-on-hopeless loss for the Portland Thorns, the absolutely incredible happened at Providence Park.

The goalkeeper scored.

With the clock ticking toward the 95th minute and the Thorns losing 1-0, 'keeper Michelle B(a)etos was waved forward for a corner-kick by manager Paul Riley. She picked out a stop just a shade north of the top of the six yard box, and was completely unmarked as Allie Long's corner flew into the area. It was headed out by a defender from FC Kansas City for another corner.

Still, no one was picking Betos up. Long noticed and sent the following corner towards the goalkeeper, who launched herself at it and powered a header past the woman on the post an in to secure one of the most exhilarating, improbable draws in Portland soccer history.

Understand: This never happens. The equivalent of a goalkeeper scoring in stoppage time in soccer is a no-hitter in baseball, a Hail Mary in football, or a game-winning four-point play in basketball.

Go to 100 games, and chances are you won't see it. Go to 1,000, and it's nowhere near guaranteed. A goalkeeper had never scored in a Timbers MLS or Thorns NWSL game—either for the home team or against it—but that all changes now.

Thing is, Betos is usually the Thorns backup. Starting goalkeeper and international superstar Nadine Angerer is at the World Cup where she is captaining Germany at the moment, so Betos has had to step in. She's done terrifically well—mostly with the shot-stopping instead of the goalscoring, course—and by the way her teammates gushed about her after the match, she seems to be tremendously well liked.

Long, one of the Thorns' most important player and the person who took the corner, said that having Betos on the team is an "imperative." She said she was so happy for her teammate that she, "didn't know whether to laugh or cry."

After her first NWSL season spent backing up Hope Solo in Seattle and her last two years backing up Angerer in Portland, Betos should finally get her big chance with the Thorns next year after Angerer retires. But whatever she does from here, Betos will be forever etched into Thorns and Portland soccer history as the goalkeeper who scored at Providence Park.

Betos' goal capped off an eventful match, which, in darker times, saw Thorn midfielder McCall Zerboni sent off for a vicious stomp on a Kansas City player.

The Thorns struggled all night—Riley cracked about Betos being the team's leading scorer after the match—and their goal was the team's first in five matches. Still, it wasn't enough to prevent the team's winless streak from stretching to seven.

Riley knows his team has to be better, or else he'll be under pressure later this year. Of course, the Thorns are missing their World Cup players—but the crowd for the match, which exceeded 15,000, was the Thorns' best of the year. The fans aren't using the national team absences as an excuse, and neither should the club.

The good news is, the stomp, the Thorns' tepidity in the final third, and the continue failure to win won't be talked about for a while. Instead we'll see Betos' goal, and the jubilant celebrations that followed it. That's what sports are about at their essence, so if you didn't enjoy that match, you shouldn't be watching.

Friday night was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. It will be celebrated for a lifetime to come.