The Baker University women’s soccer team ended MidAmerica Nazarene University’s season Friday with a 2-1 win in the first round of the Heart of America Athletic Conference tournament.

“I think we caught them off guard,” sophomore Shelby Schiraldi said. “We came out with a good pace right off the bat and stayed intense throughout the whole game.”

Only 13 minutes had passed in the first half when sophomore Alexa Fryer got her foot on the ball right in front of the goal and shot it past MNU goalkeeper Becca Skillman to give Baker the early 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats maintained control in the midfield for a majority of the half until the 38th minute when BU goalkeeper Rachel Theobald came out of her box in attempt to shut down Kalyn Pfaff’s break-away play.

Without any Baker defenders around to help make a save, Pfaff took a long shot which rolled into the goal to tie the game at 1-1.

In spite of giving up the goal, Schiraldi had high hopes for the team’s ability to take back the lead.

“We were disappointed, of course, but I knew we weren’t going to let down,” Schiraldi said. “Their goal gave us a drive to fight back and score more goals of our own.”

The Wildcats were able to use this intensity to their advantage in the second half. With 28 minutes left on the clock, senior Jordan Dolbin took a free kick from about 20 yards out which bent over the line of defenders and around Skillman to put the game away 2-1.

With the victory, the Wildcats will move on to the semifinals where they will take on the No. 2 ranked team in the HAAC, Benedictine College.

Baker is out for redemption to make up for the 3-2 loss to the Ravens, which happened in the regular season.

“We definitely should have won that game,” Schiraldi said. “We have more to give and as long as we come out with intensity this next time around, we all feel that we’re going to win.”