There was a big “red wall,” and the Kentucky women’s soccer team couldn’t quite break it down. Such was the way UK head coach Jon Lipsitz described playing against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Saturday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game.The match unfolded in one of the scenarios you really only see in soccer. One team dominates, so much so that the other side gives up on trying to score, yet the result is a tie. And not only that, but then determining the winner comes down to a 50/50 lottery.Such was the case under frigid conditions at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer complex. The Wildcats won, 4-2, in the penalty shootout after the game ended tied 0-0 through 90 minutes and two overtimes, but advancing to the final 32 in the NCAA Tournament was no easy task.By any measure Southern Illinois University Edwardsville parked the proverbial bus. And as many times as UK’s offensive attacks created cracks in the wall, the Cats could not break through. The Wildcats didn’t play poorly; in fact they created a massive quantity of chances. Thirty-one shots, eight of them on goal, another shot that agonizingly went off the cross bar and 17 corners, but UK couldn’t score over 110 minutes so the game went to penalties.”People will look at it and say how did you not score? Well we had 18 shots in the second half and nine corners,” Lipsitz said. “They had two back saves, we had a ball literally on the line. I mean, that is frustrating but at the same time you know what I am going to say to my team? I thought we acted very well after halftime and played very well. “Got ourselves more than enough opportunities and it was not like the first half where I thought we weren’t really creating enough opportunities. In the second half and overtime, I thought we played extremely well. We created great opportunities in the box where we just missed or they blocked a lot of shots. Credit to them and obviously we are going to work on some finishing and cleaning things up in the box this week.”So a win or go home NCAA Tournament First-Round game came down to the lottery that is penalties. Despite all but giving up on scoring after 60 minutes in a 90-minute game, the Ohio Valley Conference’s SIUE had just as good a chance to advance in the NCAA Tournament as a nationally seeded Kentucky.That said, the likes of Arin Gilliland would not let the season end.The cliche of a senior standout performer living to fight another day in the NCAA Tournament has been analyzed many times, and Gilliland seemed to perpetuate that recurring storyline on Saturday.Gilliland took a knock to her foot in last Sunday’s Southeastern Conference championship game against Texas A&M, and the injury seemed to limit her against SIUE. But the pain apparently wasn’t enough to keep her from creating UK’s two best chances of the night, and expertly convert UK’s first penalty of the shootout.”(Arin Gilliland) steps up and hammers home the first one,” Lipsitz said. “And she got really beaten up in the Texas A&M game less than a week ago believe it or not. I had to actually ask her ‘can you take a PK?’ because of her foot. She looked right at me and said ‘I am taking a PK.’ OK she is taking a PK. “But I literally had 2, 3, 4, and 5 written down and I did not have a No. 1 shooter written down because I didn’t know this morning when I was doing this if Gilly would be able to shoot or not. So I am proud of our toughness and our ability to just stick to the plan to the details necessary and find a way to advance.”The way Gilliland converted the penalty — hammered into the top-left corner of the goal at a pace that made the shot unstoppable — spoke to her determination. To inspire her team to victory, to play through pain and just to keep her college career going. Such determination could also be attributed to UK freshman goalie Taylor Braun. The shot stopper ended the shootout with a diving stop, giving the Wildcats an unsurmountable 4-2 advantage.But to be as focused as she was all game, and more importantly in the shootout, after never seriously being troubled or even having an opposing player come within 30 yards of her over 110 minutes of open-field action was commendable.As well as Braun, and Gilliland and the rest of the Wildcats did in keeping focus and making the plays needed to win, their performances were in keeping with a saying that has become something of a mantra for Lipzitz and his Wildcats. They were doing their “jobs.” For Gilliland it was leading, if only by example if not by scoring the first penalty. And for Braun it was making just one save in a shootout where UK’s players were a perfect 4-of-4 on their kicks.”Through the game, it’s important as a goalkeeper, even when you’re not getting any action, that you’re still getting work, to stay focused and continue doing the details and communicating throughout the whole thing,” Braun said. “It’s easy to get disengaged when there is not much action. Going into PKs, I got excited, because I’m confident in my team and the way that we practiced them and the way that we handle pressure situation. “I just knew that we were going to come out with a win after. I love pressure. I knew that all I needed to do was save one, like Jon said. Just do your job, just save one. That’s what I did tonight, and it felt great to pull it out.”UK’s next “job” will be to prepare for a Friday 3 p.m. ET Second-Round NCAA Tournament matchup with Arizona State in Charlottesville, Va.