Jones' Last-Minute Goal Lifts Arrows into Semis [Photos]

For Sachem senior Emily Jones, the last few minutes of the second half must have felt like years after Connetquot goalkeeper Alix Lopez made a sprawling kick save on her breakaway chance with 8:30 to play.

"Honestly, I was as mad as you could be," said Jones. "I didn’t think I was going to get another chance like that. I figured it was my only time, but apparently not."

As fate would have it, Jones was given another opportunity to put her team ahead in the waning seconds of regulation. With just over a minute to go, Stephanie Morini's long throw-in rolled past a defender and onto the foot of Jones, 12 yards away from the net. This time, the Flaming Arrows midfielder made good on her opportunity, beating Lopez and giving Sachem (11-4-1) a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over the Thunderbirds on Wednesday afternoon at Fred Fusaro Alumni Stadium.

"If I had to pick one kid to score the winning goal, it’d be her," said Sachem head coach Claude Amballobieta. "She’s a senior, and we didn't want to go to overtime having her wishing she’d get that opportunity back. Maybe [another chance] was what she was wishing for. She got her wish and was able to put it where the keeper wasn’t."

Jones was hard-pressed to describe the feeling of scoring the game-winning goal after the final whistle had sounded.

"Every emotion possible," she said. "I can’t even describe it in words right now. I’m still pretty up in the air."

Despite being the 11 seed heading into the tournament, the Arrows were afforded a home game in the semifinals after Connetquot upset third-ranked East Islip over the weekend. Though unexpected, playing at home seemed to fuel the Arrows' offensive tenacity late in the game.

"It was unexpected," Amballobieta said of getting a playoff home game. "We were expecting to be at East Islip if we were fortunate enough to beat Hauppauge. We went from thinking we’re being on the road during our playoff run to being on our home field in front of our fans on a beautiful day. It’s nice. Someone’s being good to us."

The Flaming Arrows took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to a goal by Leanna Curcio off a feed from Melissa Michels. The duo nearly hooked up again early in the second half, but Michels' pass barely exceeded a streaking Curcio.

Connetquot (9-8) managed to tie the game shortly after on a long ball played into the box by Jojo Murino from midfield. As Sachem keeper Erin McNulty ran out to make a play on the ball, T-Birds forward Jess Cordano cut in front of her, briefly cutting off her vision. The timing couldn't have been better, as the ball snuck past McNulty and in at 3:02 of the second half.

"We tell our girls to do that all the time," said Amballobieta. "The Connetquot girls did it perfectly."

McNulty rebounded from the unusual goal allowed strongly, making four saves in the second half, including two from point blank range. She finished with seven saves in all.

"She came off her line very well today," Amballobieta said of his goalkeeper. "She came up big on a corner kick too."

Sachem will travel to the winner of the Northport-Kings Park quarterfinal match on Saturday at 2:30. Amballobieta conceded that they wouldn't be favored against either team, though it didn't seem to make a difference to him.

"We’ll be the underdog regardless," he said. "But we’ll have to do what we’ve been doing the last couple games which is limiting the other team’s opportunities and really getting after it on the offensive end, putting a lot of pressure on the defense."