The Master’s University’s Janae Garcia put the ball between the pipes in the sixth round of a penalty shootout to beat Hope International University in a first-round GSAC Tournament match that ended in a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtimes on Reese Field.

The tie improved the Lady Mustangs’ 2016 record to 8-6-5.

Garcia’s conversion was the last of six in a row for the Lady Mustangs who had just one miss. TMU, whose initial miss came in the first round, scored on its last five penalty kicks.

With just under fourteen minutes left in the second half (76:30), TMU’s Stephanie Albright snapped the scoreless affair by scoring off an assist from Sierra Carrasco.

The Royals matched TMU’s lone goal twelve minutes later when Amanda George scored on a penalty kick at the 88:47 mark.

The two clubs then battled through two scoreless overtime stanzas where HIU narrowly outshot TMU 5-4.

Still tied at 1-1, the match went to a shootout where HIU scored on its first four tries. After missing their first attempt, the Lady Mustangs scored on their next five penalty kicks with Garcia’s heroics propelling TMU into the tournament semi-finals next Thursday.

Collectively, TMU outshot the Royals 21-14 and was led by All-GSAC performer Lynnae George who tallied five shots and two shots on goal over the course of 105 minutes. TMU goalkeeper Jessica Zubia, who also earned all-conference honors earlier in the week, tallied three saves by the end of Friday’s match.

“I’m really proud of Jessica Zubia and those two huge back-to-back saves in the shootout to put us through,” commented TMU head coach Curtis Lewis. “We’ve been talking about how our seniors needed to step up and Steph and Zubia did that on both sides of the field. Playoffs are always tricky, and we are blessed to be moving on. I credit Matt and HIU as they have continued to improve over this year and really battled well today.”

Next Thursday, the fourth-seeded Lady Mustangs will face No. 1-seed Vanguard at 7:30 p.m. on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada.