It’s been her job all season.

So when the Maple Grove senior captain was tasked with keeping Ellicottville sophomore star Mandy Hurlburt off the scoresheet Friday, she welcomed the opportunity.

Not only was Tanner successful, but so were all of the eighth-seeded Red Dragons as they shut out the top-seeded Eagles en route to a 1-0 Section VI Class C quarterfinal victory.

“I’m proud of our girls for having that grit to fight,” Maple Grove head coach Mike Burr said. “It was a physical game for sure. I was glad to see us survive.”

The Red Dragons’ Megan Baer makes a move.

Despite being a lower seed than it has been in several years, Maple Grove will again play in the sectional semifinals at 7 p.m. Monday night in Eden against No. 5 Frewsburg, which defeated No. 4 Holland in penalty kicks in another Friday quarterfinal.

“I was proud of the heart that we played with,” Burr said, “but we made a lot of mistakes that we need to correct before Monday.”

“I think we surprised everybody for sure this year,” Tanner said. “We’ve really stepped it up. Playoffs is just a completely different field.”

Ellicottville, which won the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association East Division title with an 8-0-2 league record, saw its season end in the quarterfinals for the second straight season.

“We had an amazing season,” Ellicottville head coach Tammy Eddy said. “On any given day, I think we could’ve won out, but today was unlucky.”

Ellicottville’s Emilee Ruiz and Maple Grove’s Brianna Kargas race for the ball while the Eagles’ Hayly Fredrickson looks on during Friday’s Section VI Class C quarterfinal in Ellicottville.

Playing a top defensive role that fit Marisa Schuppenhauer so well for the Red Dragons the past several seasons, Tanner hounded Hurlburt all afternoon, keeping Ellicottville’s leading scorer without a high-quality scoring chance for the entire 80 minutes.

“She’s a great player,” Tanner said. “I love playing physical girls. I actually have fun doing it.”

“They man-marked our leading scorer,” Eddy said, “and did a good job with that.”

The pair battled it out across the entire pitch and were whistled for several fouls that clearly frustrated each other.

“She’s tough. She’s always been tough. She’s fast, she’s strong and she understands the position. She did exactly what we asked her to do,” Burr said of Tanner. ” … You’re going to get knocked around. She’s going to smack you down, but do you have enough strength and courage to stand up and position yourself well to try to prevent her touches?

“We’ve played three games in a row where we’ve had to try to lock somebody down. It disrupts their rhythm,” Burr added. ” … It was a little frantic in that second half. They really had the momentum and it just became survival at that point. It’s nice to have a girl that we know we can take your No. 1 and try to limit the touches that they have.”

Maple Grove scored the only goal it would need in the 24th minute. Sophomore Alex Daniels sent a corner kick into the 18-yard box and after rattling around between players, the ball eventually found its way to Megan Baer inside the 6-yard box on the back post. Despite the sophomore being the smallest player on the field, she was able to get her foot on the ball and put it in the back of the Ellicottville net for her first career varsity goal and a 1-0 Red Dragons’ lead.

“I have to give kudos to (assistant coach) Cheryl Sirwatka because she said ‘Megan I have a good feeling that you are going to score today.’ She sure as heck did,” Burr said. “Megan, when she plays hard and is feisty, she’s as good as anybody on our team. She proved it today. She has skills, speed and strength, it’s just a matter of her having some confidence. … She does make a really big impact on the field.”

The Eagles began to take control of the game toward the end of the first half and clearly controlled possession over the final 40 minutes.

“The second, third and fourth seeds definitely had a better draw than we did,” Eddy said. ” … (Maple Grove) got lucky off a corner kick, a scrum in the middle. I don’t think they are the better team. But they are moving on and I wish them the best.”

Burr continuously urged his girls to push up into the offensive half of the field, but Ellicottville would not let it happen.

“I think because our record is what it is, some of these games we haven’t had a lead to hold,” Burr said. “It’s a much different team than last year. Learning how to hold a lead, how to bleed a clock and when it’s appropriate to do so … when to push up and come back, those are things we have to educate them and talk about as we move forward.”

The Eagles nearly caught a break late in the contest as Maple Grove sophomore stopper Jacquie Nickerson and Ellicottville sophomore Jocelyn Wyatt collided on a header attempt inside the Red Dragons’ 18-yard box leading to both being injured and leaving the game, but the Maple Grove defense collectively came together to make sure Nickerson’s absence didn’t cost them a goal and held it together for the remainder of the game.

“We knew it was going to be a grind,” Burr said. ” … That first goal was big because when we scored it, it kind of let us settle in a little bit defensively.”

Now the Red Dragons will have to deal with the fifth-seeded Bears. In two previous matchups this season, Maple Grove played Frewsburg to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 24 at home before losing to the Bears 2-1 on Oct. 10 in Frewsburg.

“All of the teams are playing 1-0 games,” Tanner said. ” … Our team definitely has a lot of heart, which continues to show every game.”

NOTES: Brooke Eddy was not forced to make any saves in net for Ellicottville while Kasie Craig was credited with five saves for Maple Grove. … Each team was whistled for a yellow card in the game.