Mankato Loyola has been one of the favorites in Section 2A girls soccer for the past few years and they’ve ended Austin’s season a couple of times in year’s past. But the Packers took a big turn towards proving they can play with the best when they topped the Crusaders (5-2-1 overall) 1-0 in Art Hass Stadium Saturday.

Austin (4-3 overall) grabbed an early lead when Kallie Bumgarner connected on a penalty kick with 32:12 left in the first half and the Packers controlled the tempo from that point on. Bumgarner said she felt plenty of nerves on her PK and she knew the win was a big one for the Packers.

“I was shaking afterwards, but it was good,” Bumgarner said. “We’re going to get it going from here. This is the rolling rock.”

Austin had eight shots on goal in the win and Myia Hoium had four relatively easy saves in net as Austin controlled much of the pace throughout. Austin head coach Jake Levisen said that the team is coming along and Saturday’s win is a big one.

“We came in this weekend with the mentality that if we owned the space, we’d own the game. Every position put forth the energy to own the space. This is a tough, physical team, but we kept our heads straight and worked our passing and plays,” Levisen said. “They’re grasping the concept that the whole team can score and it’s a very unselfish team that we have right now.”

While Loyola has had Austin’s number in recent years, the Packers didn’t come into the game with any intimidation. In fact, that even had the game marked on their calendars before the season.

“We set it as a goal to beat them earlier in the season,” said Austin midfielder Sydney Marsh. “We really wanted to win today.”