If anything, the St. Mary’s girls soccer team was completely prepared Wednesday night at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

The fourth-seeded Crusaders understood their opponent, understood what that might ultimately mean in the second round of the Class 3A/2A/1A state playoffs and patiently went about seizing their opportunity in securing a 1-0 win by virtue of a 5-3 advantage in penalty kicks over No. 13 Pleasant Hill.

St. Mary’s went first in the best-of-five shootout and saw Bailey Strickler, Avery Gunn, Ainsley Javarone, Carys Chamberland and Emma Wheelock each convert their penalty kicks.

“That was a lot, oh my gosh,” said first-year St. Mary’s head coach Lauren Huizinga. “I just could not be more proud of this group of girls. They didn’t quit at any point when we had some cramping on the field and the playing through of preexisting injuries, they just want this. They work together, they support each other and I am so, so proud of them.”

St. Mary’s (14-1) will next face No. 5 Banks (12-3), which was a 1-0 winner over Sisters on Wednesday, in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. The match is set to begin at 12 p.m. at L&D Field 10.

“It looks like another defensive battle there so luckily we can kind of hold our own in that circumstance,” the coach said in looking ahead to Saturday, “and we’re happy to have another home game. That small advantage is definitely appreciated.”

St. Mary’s left nothing to chance entering the state playoffs, and that meant hitting the road last Saturday for a scouting session.

“Some of the girls and I had gone up last Saturday to watch their game against Cascade to get a better idea of what we were up against so we were well aware of how strong they are defensively.”

Pleasant Hill had allowed only eight goals entering Wednesday’s contest, while St. Mary’s had allowed a classification-best three goals. Not surprisingly, the 80 minutes of regulation play resulted in very few scoring opportunities for either side.

“I think we maybe had two actual shots on goal and they had one or two,” said Huizinga. “t was a battle of possession more than anything.”

“It was really well-controlled by both teams,” she added. “There was not a lot of boot-ball or panic or anything. It was just a good, mature game of soccer.”

With a little encouragement from Huizinga, everything opened up a little more during the two 10-minute overtime sessions for St. Mary’s, which was definitely the aggressor throughout the extra time.

“We didn’t want to have to go to PKs,” said Huizinga. “It’s a terrible way to lose and it’s not really a fun way to win.”

“I gave them permission and encouragement to just shoot from anywhere and hope for a second-chance shot if we get the goalie to pat it down and then maybe ricochet in,” she added. “Any goal at any time would’ve been a welcome addition to that game, so they were more willing to shoot from anywhere. Once they get in that mindset, I think they all push up and are a little bit more intense with that play.”

That aggressive tone spilled over into the penalty kick period, as well as a hint of confidence after the Crusaders spent time during Tuesday’s practice setting up their penalty kick order and routine.

“They felt confident at that point,” Huizinga said as her players stepped into the box. “They’d had some chances and this was the way they were going to finish the game.”

Pleasant Hill goalkeeper Kenna Caldwell-Copeland had been impressive in squeezing any shot that came her way throughout the 100 minutes of play but was unable to counter the Crusaders’ one-on-one opportunities.

Strickler hit a left-footed shot into the upper right quadrant to start things off, then Caldwell-Copeland stepped up herself to rip a shot past St. Mary’s goalkeeper Bri Cooper.

Avery Gunn had her initial attempt blocked by Caldwell-Copeland but it was ruled that the goalkeeper had moved off her line to do so and on a redo, Gunn slotted her shot inside the left post.

Billies leading scorer Tessa Hammond tied the shootout at 2-all before Javarone froze the goalie with a confident shot into the right side of the net.

Pleasant Hill’s attempt for another answer sailed well over the crossbar on a stutter-step effort by Zoe Dilts, and Chamberland put the Crusaders ahead for good at 4-2 with her shot inside the left post.

Trinity Smead connected on a quick burner into the left side of the goal before Wheelock stepped up to seal the match victory with a smooth shot into the top right corner of the goal to send St. Mary’s off in celebration with the 5-3 advantage.

WEST LINN 1, NORTH MEDFORD 0: At West Linn, North Medford was unable to move past the second round in the Class 6A state playoffs for a second straight year as fifth-seeded West Linn kept a clean sheet in the home match.

West Linn used a goal by Brystol Leslie in the 32nd minute to ease past North Medford.

The 12th-seeded Black Tornado (10-5-2), coming off a penalty kick triumph in the first round, were held scoreless for the first time this fall.

SUMMIT 1, ASHLAND 0: At Bend, No. 13-seeded Ashland suffered its second consecutive shutout loss to open the Class 5A state playoffs, ending the Grizzlies’ season with an 8-7 overall record.

Fourth-seeded Summit improved to 11-3-2 after Adeline Mitchell scored the lone goal in the 45th minute.

Boys Soccer

WEST ALBANY 4, ASHLAND 2, OT: At Albany, Ashland built a 2-0 lead early in the second half but the 13th-seeded Grizzlies were unable to hold off No. 5 West Albany in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs.

Luis Caballero Uhtoff connected for the only goal of the first half following an assist by Quillian Tourzan, then the duo went back at it again five minutes into the second half for the same result to make it 2-0 in favor of Ashland (7-7-2).

The efforts boosted Caballero Uhtoff to 10 goals this season to go with his eight assists, while Tourzan improved to five assists to complement his 15 goals.

West Albany (11-1-3) scored twice in the final 20 minutes to tie and force overtime sessions, in which they also tacked on two more goals to prevail.

CROOK COUNTY 3, PHOENIX 1: At Crook County, Phoenix fell into a 3-0 hole after missing several good scoring opportunities before Antonio Camargo broke the drought with his goal in the 60th minute during the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

The No. 14-seeded Pirates (8-4-3) were unable to trim the deficit further in falling to third-seeded Crook County (12-1-2), which capitalized on a few defensive miscues as Phoenix played a rare match on natural grass.

Crook County scored in the 14th, 25th and 53rd minutes.

ST. MARY’S 2, SUTHERLIN 0: At Sutherlin, St. Mary’s put together a complete-match effort to earn an upset in the second round of the Class 3A/2A/1A state playoffs and shutout No. 7 Sutherlin for only the second time this season.

Midfielder Sawyer Baker collected the first Crusaders goal in the 33rd minute, then defender Oliver Ford seized an opportunity to double the lead for 10th-seeded St. Mary’s (11-3-1) in the 60th minute.

Sutherlin dropped to 12-2-2.

The Crusaders will next play at No. 2 Oregon Episcopal at 3 p.m. in Saturday’s quarterfinals.