England beat Sweden in wild quarterfinal shootout

Defending champions England beat Sweden in a nail-biting penalty shootout on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Women's European Championship after staging a remarkable late recovery from two goals down to draw 2-2.

Sweden keeper Jennifer Falk saved four penalties, a record in a Women's Euro shootout. But she skied the potentially winning spot kick over the bar as England to triumphed 3-2 with 18-year-old Smilla Holmberg missing the last one after Lucy Bronze had powerfully dispatched hers for the Lionesses.

"Stressful. Stressful watching, stressful playing," England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton told the BBC when asked about the shootout, in which she saved two penalties with Sweden missing three others.

"Every time I saved one I was thinking 'please just put it in so we have a bit of a cushion.' Their keeper then just went and saved the next one and I was thinking 'oh goodness, here we go.'"

England would have been thankful to get to penalties, however, as -- having trailed almost from the start -- they were 2-0 down with 12 minutes remaining before goals from Bronze and teenage substitute Michelle Agyemang took the match to extra time.

It is the first time in the history of the Women's Euros that a team has fought back from two goals down in a knockout match.

England will face Italy in the semifinal in Geneva on Tuesday.

Stina Blackstenius teed up Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani to score in the second minute after England gave the ball away cheaply, and Blackstenius then out-ran Jess Carter to score with a confident finish herself in the 25th minute.

Bronze pulled a goal back for England in the 79th minute, meeting Chloe Kelly's cross and heading home from a tight angle to re-ignite the white-clad fans in the crowd and substitute Michelle Agyemang levelled two minutes later with a superb poacher's finish to send the game to extra time.

It is the first time in the history of the Women's Euros that a team has fought back from two goals down in a knockout match.

Both sides had their fair share of chances in extra time but the game went to penalties, and though the Swedes missed their first spot kick, Falk's superb saves soon put them in the driving seat.

She had the chance to win it but she sent her kick high over the bar, and though she saved from Grace Clinton, Bronze beat her from the spot.

After Sofia Jakobsson's miss, the pressure proved too much for Holmberg, who fired over for the ninth miss of an unforgettable shootout.

Sarina Wiegman's side reached their fourth semifinal in the last five Euros and also become the first champions since Germany in 2009 to make it beyond the quarterfinals at the following tournament.

Information from Reuters, The Associated Press and ESPN Research was used in this report.