The Hendrickson Hawks girls soccer team won a thrilling victory over the Mustangs after a 3-3 tie and a 2-1 shootout to cap the night Friday.

Coach Frank Hense was delighted with his team’s grit and determination to find a way to win.

“We are still young and gaining in experience while coming together as a team,” he said.

The Hawks (6-2) came out attacking and moved up the field to force a corner kick. Katelyn Frederick cranked a shot that was blocked by the Mustang defense after receiving a cross from Juli Saba.

Tyane Ramos fed a pretty cross to Samantha Nunez who flew in through the defense and blasted a rocket that would get the Hawks on the board first.

The Mustangs came down field seeking an equalizer but were denied by the clean save of Hawks’ keeper Reagan Coleman.

With 1:47 left in the first half the Mustangs finally got on the board as they pieced together a nice pass and run. This resulted in a shot going in past the diving Coleman and the teams went in at intermission tied 1-1.

Nunez started the second half as she had the first by weaving through the defense and ripping a shot that skimmed the outside of the post.

The game grew more physical after the Mustangs took a 2-1 lead. In the 22nd minute, Asia Williams was taken out by the sliding Mustang keeper who kept her from scoring. While on the ground, the Mustang keeper threw two punches at Williams, which resulted in a red card and ejection from the rest of the game.

The Mustangs were a player down and moving the ball down the field. The Mustangs launched a shot from the 50, which caught Coleman off guard as she was directing the defense and further out from her goal. This made it 3-1 in favor of the visitors.

The goal fired up the Hawks. Williams took the ball up the right side of the field and unleashed a wicked shot that flew in past the keeper making it 3-2.

Shortly thereafter Nunez got a breakaway on the left side and with the keeper charging she placed a timely shot into the back of the net.

With the game tied at the end of regulation the teams had to go into a shootout.

Ramos scored on her attempt to tie things at 1-1. On the third attempt the Mustangs missed again and Saba scored.

The next attempt was missed by the Mustangs and the Hawks shot was blocked. The fifth and final shot was blocked by Williams who also plays keeper.