winning goal
- noun
- He will always remember the moment he scored the winning goal in the championship game.
- game-winning goal
- scored the winning goal
- winning goal in overtime
That just stops it from being a game-winning goal.
- That just stops it from being a game-winning goal.
Examples
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In the final seconds of the match, she scored the winning goal that led her team to victory.
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SEMO's Jacey Boyko scored the game-winning goal three minutes into overtime, heading in a cross on a run from the left side.
Blog text (10) -
- I scored the winning goal today.
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Who kicked the winning goal?
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I remind myself that I scored the winning goal in the last game of the summer.
Fiction book (2000) -
The guy who scored the winning goal tonight, Billy Duke.
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Yu see me score the winning goal?
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It's a 1-1 game again with six minutes left in the third when they scored the game-winning goal.
Blog text (13) -
Paul Henderson scored the winning goal with thirty-four seconds to go in the final period.
Fiction book (1996) -
Martinez scored the winning goal against Real Salt Lake in Thursday's second leg of a Western Conference semifinal.
Blog text (29)
How Decisive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the goal that secures victory' is directly and transparently derived from 'winning' (being the winner) modifying 'goal' (a point scored); a B1 learner who knows both constituents will infer this interpretation. The adjective+noun composition is a common, regular pattern in English and other languages, so the phrase is predictable and easily understood from its parts.
Etymology
Winning goal is a sports phrase: it names the goal that makes a team win by deciding the match. So, it means 'the goal that wins the game'.