SPRINGFIELD — A scoring burst pushed the seventh-seeded Amherst Regional boys soccer team past No. 3 and defending champion Longmeadow, 2-0, Thursday at Berte Field.
After 77 minutes of back-and-forth play, the Hurricanes scored two goals in the final three minutes.
With the victory, Amherst clinched a spot in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Tournament championship. Amherst (11-7-2) will take on No. 1 Minnechaug (18-1-1) in the finals Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Westfield State.
Minnechaug beat No. 5 Pittsfield 3-2 in double overtime Thursday.
This was the second straight year that Longmeadow and Amherst met in the semifinals. In 2015, then No. 7 seed Longmeadow beat the defending champion and No. 3 seed Hurricanes en route to winning their title. Amherst turned the tables in 2016.
“We lost to them 3-0 in this game on this field,” said Amherst goalie Liam Carolan. “We were the third seed, they were the seventh, they went on to win it and now that were in the same situation were going to win it.”
Samson Heyer launched a cross from the 30-yard line that looked to be going out of bounds to the left of the post. That was until Alex Perry bounced above the crowd of Lancers to connect on a header that got behind Longmeadow’s Billy Hiser (six saves) for a 1-0 lead.
Perry scored a similar goal during the season.
“Samson had the ball exact same distance out,” said Perry. “I was making the far post run and I told him to just put it on my head and he did.”
Amherst made it 2-0 one minute later. Tim Felton took the ball away from a defender and chipped the ball over Hiser to seal the win.
Defensively Carolan was diving and leaping all night as he collected seven saves.
“I tried to stay focused the whole game,” said Carolan. “I knew if I kept a clean sheet my team would put one in.”
Amherst coach Michael Rudd praised his goalie’s effort.
“We had to withstand a lot of pressure within the last 30 minutes, and Liam Carolan did terrific in goal,” he said.
Longmeadow pressed the Hurricanes all match and the Hurricanes broke through late in the game to get their goals.
“At times a pressing team is vulnerable behind them,” said Rudd. “The fact that we were able to counter attack at the end was our one last chance.”
Despite the seeds, the Hurricanes did not feel like underdogs Thursday. The teams played to a 2-2 draw earlier in the season.
“We outplayed them in the regular season, said Perry. “We were extremely confident coming into this game.”
Rudd was confident.
“I don’t ever feel like my team is the underdog anytime we play, said Rudd. “When we play at our best, there is no way we can be considered underdogs.”