Eighty minutes of regular game. Twenty minutes of overtime. Ten total PK’s.

Through it all, the Ashland University women’s soccer team was able to weather the storm.

The No. 3-seeded Eagles hosted the first round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament game on Tuesday afternoon, where they beat the No. 6-seeded Michigan Tech Huskies in the final round of PKs.

Freshman forward Deijah Swihart was the fifth Eagle to complete a shot against Huskies’ goalkeeper Jenna Phelps.

“I knew I had to go up there with confidence and know I was going to make it,” said Swihart. “I couldn’t second guess it. I just had to go up there and knock it in.”

While the Huskies brought the most pressure, in the first half especially, both teams found themselves battling to get on-top first and maintain possession of the ball for the remainder of the game.

“There were points in the game where we had to take some of their pressure,” said Krispinsky. “They were coming after us and that’s what they do.”

But the Eagles couldn’t stop Huskies’ Jacqueline Mielke who scored the first goal of the game in the 11th minute.

“[Michigan] Tech came out and really took it to us in the beginning,” said head coach Danny Krispinsky. “I felt that we were timid to begin the game and it costed us.”

The Eagles started off slower than usual, but once the dynamic duo of sophomore Morgan Bittengle and Swihart got together, the momentum had changed.

Bittengle received a cross from Swihart and was able to sneak it past the Huskies’ goalkeeper, scoring AU’s only goal in regulation in the 34th minute.

“We work off of each other really well” said Swihart. “[The goal] changed the momentum because we went out so slow and we knew that as soon as we got that goal we were up and we kept going at them.”

From there, both teams struggled to find the back of the net.

“Both teams had good opportunities there throughout the game,” said Krispinsky. “But both were unable to capitalize and we told the girls that the team with more heart will win.”

The Eagles had 11 shots, six of which were on goal, compared to the Huskies’ 28 shots, 11 of which were on goal.

From all of the Huskies’ shots, sophomore goalkeper Courtney Barker was able to collect 15 saves, many of which were cruical to keeping AU in the game.

“It was definitely a battle, more than the first time we faced them,” said Barker. “I didn’t think I would reach double-digit saves, but I think we played really hard.”

During the round of PK’s Barker made a diving save off the foot of Michigan Tech’s Janelle Riedl, which ultimately sealed the victory for the Eagles.

“It felt good,” said Barker. “Especially since PK’s aren’t in the keeper’s favor. One save can make or break the PK situation. I had a feeling we would be going into PK’s but I felt pretty confident while we were practicing before the game. I just had to trust my instincts.”

“We knew that [Michigan Tech] is a team that gets a lot of shots off,” said Krispinsky. “Court did an excellent job and came up huge for us, not only on the penalty stop, but throughout the game.”

Even though the Eagles won the game in the PK round, the game goes down as a draw on their record (13-3-1). This marks the first tie for AU since Sept. 29, 2013 against Tiffin.

“It’s a great feeling to go out and win in such a big game in the tournaments,” said Swihart.

The Eagles will move on to the GLIAC semifinal game against Ferris State on Friday.