Aberdeen Central was perfectly poised under pressure Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles came up big when it mattered most, dominating a shootout to turn back Spearfish 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the Class AA girls’ soccer playoffs at Brownell Activities Complex.

After 80 regulation minutes and two 10-minute overtimes of scoreless action, Central controlled the shootout outscoring the Spartans 3-0 on penalty kicks.

“We work on PKs once the playoffs start, but realistically it just comes down to the girls stepping up to the line and relaxing and doing what they normally do,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “The girls know what they have to do. They just have to step forward and put that ball in the net.”

While the Golden Eagles were perfect in three shots during the shootout, nobody came up bigger in the than Central goalkeeper Ciara Franks, who stopped Spearfish’s first two attempts and watched the other sail over the net.

“She’s really athletic and quick and doesn’t have to come off the line,” Aske said. “She can slide. If she can get a paw on the ball, it’s not going to go by her.”

Frank got her paws on both of the first two attempts of the Spartans to give the Golden Eagles a key advantage. While penalty kicks normally favor the offense, the senior goalie was up the challenge.

“I kind of just look at their hips and watch the way their legs are swinging,” Frank said, “and then I can tell where the ball is going to go.”

Frank said having her teammates rally around her before the shootout helped to relieve some of the stress.

“There’s a lot of people surrounding me, letting me know that I’ve got it, and just cheering for me,” Frank said, “so it just takes the weight off a little bit.”

Once Frank stopped Spearfish’s initial shot, it put all of the pressure on the Spartans and when Deshani Peters scored on Central’s first shot, the Eagles had the clear advantage.

After a second Spearfish miss, Kailyn Poppen gave Central a nearly insurmountable lead, and following one final Spearfish attempt that failed to get past Frank, Lauren Joosten officially sealed the deal with one final goal.

The victory avenged a season-opening setback to the Spartans on the same field back in August.

“I just feel like we have improved so much throughout the season and everyone on our team wants the same thing which is to make it to state,” said Central’s Bailey DeGroot. “We all worked as hard as we could. It was a challenge, but in the end we pulled it off.”

The defender made a key play in the closing minutes of regulation, outrunning a Spearfish attacker to the ball as the Spartans were closing in on the Central goal.

“I literally just put the pedal to the metal. I just try to give it my all,” DeGroot said. “I’m a senior and obviously every senior wants to make it to state and wants to win, and I told my friends, I told my family, my teammates, I’m putting my life on the line for this game and every game moving forward.”

Central outshot the Spartans by a large margin in regulation, but was unable to find the back of the net. While the Spartans weren’t able to mount consistent attacks on the Golden Eagle goal, they were able to force footraces to the ball, which the hosts won every time, including a couple by Frank, who ventured as far out as 20 yards to deny approaching attackers.

“It usually gets pretty nerve wrecking coming out,” Frank said, “because then I’m leaving the goal wide open.”

After 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, the contest moved along into the shootout where the Golden Eagles finished the task.

“It’s one of those things that you don’t want to go to a shootout, but we feel pretty confident in our group that they’re going to be relaxed and be able to take the pressure,” Aske said. “We’ve been in a lot of pressure-packed situations this season. They just do a good job. They handle the pressure and they just keep fighting, trying to get it done and we got it done in the end.”

Central, 12-2, now takes on top-seeded Mitchell in the semifinals on Tuesday in Mitchell. The Golden Eagles handed the Kernels their only loss this season, 1-0 a few weeks ago in Aberdeen.

“We’ve got to shut down their offense and do a good job of just putting pressure on them,” Aske said. “I think there’s ways we can score more goals.”

One of those ways is securing set-piece opportunities, where the Eagles have thrived this season.

“The last time we played them we didn’t have many corner kicks and we’re pretty dangerous on corner kicks,” Aske said, “and that puts more pressure on them and gets them out of position.”

Spearfish (10-3-2) 0 0 0 0 (0) – 0

Aberdeen Central (12-2) 0 0 0 0 (3) – 1

First Half: No scoring

Second Half: No scoring

First Overtime: No scoring

Second Overtime: No scoring

Shootout Penalty Kicks: Spearfish 0; Aberdeen Central, Deshani Peters, Kailyn Poppen, Lauren Joosten.

Shots: Spearfish 17 (10 on goal); Aberdeen Central 28 (16 on goal).

Goalies: Spearfish, Lauren Piotter (16 saves); Aberdeen Central, Ciara Frank (13 saves).