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.