NORTH ST. PAUL — Something had to give and it didn’t come easy, but the St. Cloud Tech Tigers was the team to find the final push as they survived with a 2-1 shootout win over Austin in the Minnesota Class A State Boys Soccer Tournament quarterfinals in North High School Wednesday night.

The shootout was a wild one as Julio Hernandez had his goal disallowed, then was later given a chance to retry it. Hernandez connected and so did Andres Garcia to give the Packers a 4-3 lead in the shootout. The Tigers (16-2-1 overall) responded when John Putz and Mohamed Korane connected on their shots. Korane’s goal won it after Austin’s Elisha Simerson hit the post on the sixth shot of the shootout for the Packers (14-3-2 overall).

Austin keeper Casey Berg made one save in the shootout and nine during the game — including a couple of leaping saves in overtime.

“It feels terrible because we started slow and they were able to capitalize. We poured our hearts out on the field and we just weren’t able to get it. To lose on PKs always sucks,” Berg said. “It stings a lot.”

Austin head coach Jens Levison credited Julio Hernandez for knocking down the second kick after having to sit on his disallowed goal for nearly 10 minutes, before being awarded his re-kick.

“He showed a tremendous amount of resolve to hold things together after thinking we’d lost it,” Levisen said.

The Packers tied the game in the second half at 1-1 when Henry Tolbert charged through the Tiger defense and blasted a shot in from nearly 30-yards out on the near post. Kee Reh had the assist.

Tolbert and Julio Hernandez both created a couple of scoring opportunities in the first half for Austin, but it was the Tigers who took a 1-0 lead into the break. St. Cloud Tech was able to get on the board when Ethan Miller headed in a 30-yard lob pass from John Putz in the 26th minute of the game.

“We played strong all game and we created a bunch of opportunities. The guys gave it everything,” Levisen said. “It’s not the way you want to end the game. You would rather have it in open play.”

Austin has now won three straight Big Nine and Section 1A titles and  Levisen has a lot of respect for the departing senior class for keeping the program moving forward.

“They’re taking our program in a very positive direction,” Levisen said. “There’s a lot that can be appreciated for what those guys did for the program.”