Albert Lea’s Steph Ferguson thought she’s was going to be the goat of the game, the one who was responsible for ending the Tigers lengthy undefeated streak against section opponents and their chance at making the state tournament for a third consecutive season.

Little did she know she ended up being the one responsible for keeping Albert Lea’s girls’ soccer season alive with her clutch performance in a 2-1 shootout victory over Mankato Loyola Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Section 2A tournament in Albert Lea.

The senior goalkeeper entered the game without having allowed a goal in three weeks, but gave up a soft goal in the first half that gave the Crusaders an early 1-0 advantage and visions of an upset. The Tigers rallied to tie the game in the second half and after two scoreless overtimes, Ferguson had her shot at redemption in a shootout.

She made up for her early mistake in the shootout by scoring a goal as the Tigers’ fifth shooter and making the game-winning stop on Loyola’s final shooter, Emily Gaspar.

Despite her earlier struggles the rest of the team had confidence in Ferguson once the game came down to a shootout.

“I had the utmost confidence in Steph,” said senior captain Morgan Stadheim. “She’s amazing, especially in those. I trust her completely.”

Ferguson, Allison Stark and Mariah Maras made their shots for Albert Lea while Hannah Gaspar and Alia Coughlan scored for the Crusaders in the shootout for a 3-2 Tiger win.

Albert Lea (12-2-1), the No. 1 seed entered the matchup with the No. 9 seed Loyola (5-13) a heavy favorite, especially considering the Tigers defeated the Crusaders 3-0 Sept. 26. But the Tigers learned that being a two-time defending section champion is meaningless in the playoffs.

The Crusaders were on the path to a major upset early on and struck for a goal in the 33rd minute of the game when Veslemoey Rygge scored after Ferguson misplayed a shot from distance.

“I went to go in for it and it hit off my hand and it kind of went off to the side and one of their girls was in the right spot at the right time,” Ferguson said. “I had tears in my eyes. I’m not ready for it to be over.”

The rest of the Albert Lea squad did little the first half to try to score or dig the team out from the predicament.

“I think we kind of came out a little cocky because we beat them before and we were like, ‘It was the day after homecoming and we still won 3-0,’” Stadheim said. “In the first half they just dominated and we just watched and let them run around us.”

It was easily the worst half of soccer the Tigers have played all season and head coach Rick Barnhill had his concerns about the play after the game.

“It was just a lack of desire to get to the ball,” Barnhill said. “If that doesn’t change soon, we’ll see the end of the line pretty quick. We can’t come out in that kind of manner.”

Albert Lea struggled against the offsides trap the Crusaders used throughout the game and lost a majority of the 50-50 balls in the first half to Loyola.

The Crusaders were an emotionally charged team the first half and controlled play for long stretches, the only question left at halftime was if Loyola would be able to sustain that emotional intensity for another 40 minutes. During the break, Crusader players said if they were the more intense team for the first 10 minutes, the Tigers would wilt away.

That was very nearly the case as Albert Lea started the second half slow again, but nine minutes into the second half Ariel Christensen hit a poor-angle shot past the Crusaders goalkeeper to tie the game at 1-1.

The Tigers continued to sustain pressure the entire half and outshot Loyola 36 to 13 for the game. Albert Lea had 13 corners while the Crusaders had two for the game but the Tigers wouldn’t find the net the rest of the game and it was decided in a shootout.

Albert Lea moves on to the semifinals to face Mankato East Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Albert Lea. The Tigers beat the Cougars (8-8-2) 2-0 in the regular season and 2-0 in the semifinals of the section playoffs last season.