CICERO – The pained looks on the faces of Greene’s players revealed the frustration and disappointment of suffering a bad case of deja vu.

For the second straight year, Greene was eliminated from state title contention losing in the state semifinals to Section 11’s Sachem East in a penalty stroke-off.

The Flaming Arrows advanced to the field hockey Class A finals winning the stroke-off 3-0 Saturday afternoon at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. Just one season ago, Greene was eliminated in the state semifinals by Mamoraneck, a 3-1 penalty stroke-off winner over the Trojans.

The two powerhouse field hockey clubs played to a 1-1 tie after 60 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of sudden-victory overtime to force the stroke-off. “We haven’t had any stroke-offs this season, but we were practicing more than ever because that was how we were beat out last year,” said Greene junior Jahna Driscoll, who led the Trojans (17-1) with 26 goals this season. “Apparently we need to practice just a little more for next year to be ready for that.”

Sachem East had the better of the first seven-on-seven overtime period, and threatened to score late in the period when speedy Kristen Bagley broke through the Greene defense, and had just Greene defender Kaitlin Bryce to beat. Bryce turned Bagley to the outside and broke up the play.

The Flaming Arrows controlled the early part of the second overtime, and a close-range shot by Bagley was kicked away by Greene freshman cage-minder, Julia Amell.

Late in the second overtime, the Trojans’ Emily Conroe fed Driscoll deep in the penalty circle. Driscoll spun and shot the ball to the left corner, but Sachem East goalie Samantha Alvino just stuck her foot out enough to make the clutch save. “The goalie just came out of nowhere and made a great save,” Driscoll said, remembering the near-miss for her team.

With penalty strokes left to decide the game’s outcome, the Flaming Arrows were precise with their attempts. Katie Trombetta lifted her shot into the upper right corner, while Jessica Caruana and Bagley powered hard shots into the lower left of the cage.

Greene’s first two strokers, Conroe and Driscoll, sent shots wide left of the goal, and Emily Gascon’s shot to the left corner was kick-saved away by Alvino to end the contest.

“You know, we worked and worked on penalty strokes all year,” said Greene head coach, Sue Carlin. “It’s definitely frustrating, but my hat is off to my players. They played hard, it was just an unfortunate way to end the season.”

Through the first half, Greene (17-1) looked the part of a team headed toward a state finals berth. After sustained pressure in the Sachem East defensive zone, a ball was played up the left side to Emma Anderson. Anderson carried the ball into the penalty circle, and her bouncing shot found the right side of the cage with 8:23 left in the first half.