ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – The top-seeded Embry-Riddle women's soccer team made program history on Wednesday by edging ninth-seeded Benedictine 2-1 to advance to the semifinal round of the NAIA Women's Soccer National Tournament for the first time ever. The Eagles got first-half goals from Julia Karlernas and Kristin Sverrisdottir to improve the Eagles' overall record to 19-1. Embry-Riddle will play its semifinal match at noon (CST) on Friday against the winner of the quarterfinal game between Northwestern Ohio and Concordia (Ore.).

The game was a hard-fought battle that saw ERAU with a 12-10 edge in shots, but the Ravens had a 7-4 advantage in shots on frame. ERAU had a decisive 11-2 advantage in corner kicks but it was the Ravens who were able to score from the corner, late in the game.

The Eagles were given very little to room to operate at the start of the game as Benedictine applied a high-pressure defense from the first whistle. The first 28 minutes of play saw the Ravens put up four shots to three by the Eagles, but it was the Blue and Gold who got on the board first at the 29:40 mark.

Emmie Johansson got the ball to Isabelle Haaranen who took it all the way to touch line inside the 18-yard box. Haaranen managed to getting a perfectly weighted cross off toward the center of the box where Karlernas headed home her second goal fo the tournament to put ERAU up 1-0.

Following the goal, the Eagles settled into more of a rhythm offensively and began to control a little more of the midfield play.  Four minutes after coming off the bench, Nina Joergensen was fouled just outside the penalty area. Kristin Sverrisdottir took the resulting set piece and her free kick bounced off the left post and into the netting on the opposite side to extend the Eagle advantage to 2-0 at halftime.

ERAU continued to control the possession at the start of the second frame, but the Eagles were unable to get on the board again and the tide slowly began to turn in the Ravens' favor.

In the 80th minute, Bethany Smith hit a shot that forced ERAU goalkeeper Olivia Lynch to parry the ball over the cross bar for the save for a Raven corner. Liz Enna was on the end of the set piece but her initial shot was saved on the line by Khyla Brangman. The ball bounced off a couple of players before making its way to Kara Hines who slipped the rebound past Lynch to make the score 2-1.

The goal gave the Ravens a new sense of urgency and the final nine minutes of the match featured scrappy play as Benedictine looked for the equalizer and ERAU worked to maintain the lead. Neither team was able to get another clear chance at the goal and at the end of 90 minutes, the Eagles walked off the field with the win.

Lynch finished with five saves, while her Benedictine counterpart, Ashley Holland, had two saves for the Ravens whose season ended at 19-2-1.