ALBUQUERQUE — Luck or skill didn't matter in the equation. Santa Fe Preparatory goalkeeper Danny Quinn needed both Thursday.

Quinn stopped two shots in a shootout and had another careen off the crossbar as the third-seeded Blue Griffins defeated No. 6 Taos 3-1 on penalty kicks, which was good enough for a 1-0 quarterfinal win in the Class A-AAA Boys State Soccer Tournament.

"Luck is always a role in PK shootouts, no matter how good the goalkeeper is," Santa Fe Prep coach Hersch Wilson said as he referenced former U.S. women's national team goalie Briana Scurry in praising Quinn.

"Her coach said, 'You stop one, you'll be famous,' " he said. " 'Stop two and they put up a statue of you in your hometown.' And he stopped two. So it's statue time back at Prep."

Quinn managed 10 saves during the first 100 minutes of soccer. After the Griffins sent their first penalty kick wide right, Quinn saved the first two penalty kicks by the Tigers.

"My pregame mantra is to sit down an visualize every shot I might face, including penalties," Quinn said. "That's just what I do — prepare. I imagine myself getting to every ball."

Seniors Alex Delgado, Warren Peterson and Brian Lewis all succeeded on their shots for the Blue Griffins.

Both teams battled for possession in regulation, with Taos pressing forward as much as possible, shooting early and often while Santa Fe Prep was patient and used counter attacks. Both styles produced opportunities, just not goals.

Wilson said both teams felt the pressure of the situation.

"They were both nervous high school teams, and so no one was getting them on frame," he said. "They couldn't get the ball to their go-to players. We defended very well. I thought we were evenly matched and everyone played really hard."

The Tigers (13-7) did a good job of dousing Santa Fe Prep senior forward McCall Sides.

"First half, they were man-marking McCall, our go-to guy, and they did a really good job on him but they also did a great job of stopping our through balls," Wilson said.

Meanwhile, Quinn had nothing but praise for the Blue Griffins defense.

"They definitely had some good shots on frame but I'm lucky to be behind some of the best defenders in the state in our division," Quinn said. "My defense worked incredibly hard. I'm going to be thanking them all the way home."

The Blue Griffins (16-5) face No. 2 St. Michael's in today's semifinal.

"We have a bone to pick with them but it's a friendly rivalry," Quinn said. "We enjoy playing each other so it'll be fun."