The kinds of looks Aniah Dothard was getting in the first few minutes following halftime Thursday night are usually the equivalent of a layup for Skyline soccer’s leading scorer.

Open space in the middle of the box. A breakaway straight down the center of the field. Not one, but two rebounds, point-blank.

Each time, Holy Family netminder Wynn Wagner escaped unfettered.

Searching for answers, Dothard went to her coach: ‘Keep shooting,’ the Falcons’ longtime headman, Luis Chavez, told her.

“I prayed,” the junior said. “I was like, ‘Lord, I need a goal. Or at least play better and help my team win.’ Then in the second half, I went off to the bench and my coach told me he took me out to just take a breath and have me calm down. He told me, ‘Don’t give up and just keep shooting.’”

When Dothard returned to the game, and with the Falcons down 1-0, she immediately hit the left post. For crying out — “Am I just not supposed to make a goal,” she thought.

But she shook that off, too. And on her next opportunity — probably her toughest chance of the night — she sailed a brilliant ball, from 40 yards out, up and over the fingertips of Wagner. That tied it, and a bit later, defender Mikaela Stromquist won it for the Falcons, 2-1.

Stromquist’s game-winner in the 70th minute came off a free kick from an odd angle. Like Dothard’s 10 minutes before, her ball was placed perfectly. Frankly, on this night, it had to be to overcome Wagner.

“We are blessed to have her,” Holy Family freshman Alyssa Brown said of a keeper who, time and time again, thwarted Skyline’s attack Thursday.

Brown gave the Tigers the lead with her first career goal in the 45th but wished there’d been more to back up Wagner.

“We’re taking it for granted,” Brown said of Wagner’s brilliance. “She can’t keep us in every game. We have to keep ourselves in it.”

Neither team can afford to stew long. The regular season ends in eight days and both of them are fighting for better position in the upcoming postseason.

The Falcons (4-8-1, 3-1 4A/3A Granite Peaks League) came into the night ranked 30th in 4A’s 32-team projected playoff field and should have distanced themselves further from the bubble with their win on a cold, lightning-delayed kind of Thursday night.

Remarkable, considering how things started.

The Falcons’ 0-6-1 start seems like forever ago. After getting their first win on April 4 — 5-0 over Longmont — they played 5A Fairview and 4A top-10 Mead tough, albeit in losses, then followed up with a three-game winning streak that included their first wins in years against town rivals Silver Creek and Niwot.

“We can do this now,” Stromquist said of her team’s growing confidence. “We have a fire inside of us.”

The Falcons and Holy Family (5-8, 2-3) each have two more games to improve their playoff standing.

The 3A No. 20 Tigers are at 4A No. 5 Palmer Ridge on Saturday, then close at home against No. 32 Centaurus on May 1.

Skyline is at Centaurus on Tuesday before it hosts Frederick next Thursday.