SACO — It was rugged. It was physical. And for better than 65 minutes, it was scoreless.

Then came the goals, three of them in eight minutes, with Kaitlyn Hall booming in the most crucial of those to give No. 2 seed Thornton Academy a hard-fought 2-1 win over No. 10 Sanford, in a Western Maine Class A girls soccer quarterfinal tilt at Paul Hill Stadium, Tuesday.

Hall’s tally, a 30-yard blast from the right wing, came with just 5:51 left in the contest, and propelled the Golden Trojans to a semifinals date with No. 3 Greely at home on Friday (2:30 p.m.).

“We knew it was going to be a hard game,” said Hall, a junior. “It was rough. We were really frantic to get the (second) goal. Once I scored, it was more calm, until the last few minutes.”

Said senior co-captain Ellie Arsenault, “It became really intense. You could tell both teams wanted it. We were lucky enough to be able to finish.”

Both teams entered the contest bearing cumbersome emotional loads.

The Trojans were still mindful of last season’s opening round loss to a lower seed on their home turf.

“We’ve been told,” said Arsenault, “how we always lose in the first game of the playoffs. We just didn’t want to be that team anymore.”

And Sanford had already endured its longest afternoon of the year, on the same field, no less, a 3-0 thumping by Thornton in the second game of the season.

However, the Redskins found their stride as the season wore on, and felt they were capable of giving Thornton a run for its money.

“We kind of figured out what spots people should be playing in,” said Sanford coach Kendra Brown. “We moved some people around. We (had) the right fit.”

Thornton enjoyed an edge in real estate during the scoreless first half, but the Redskins began to level the field in the second.

“I think Sanford was in the playoff mode when they came out here,” Arsenault said. “We just had to think about keeping our season going. We had to motivate ourselves.”

Both teams had great scoring chances as the game moved along, but neither could finish, due in large part to strong work by goalies Michelle Jacques of Sanford and Thornton’s Sydney Proctor.

Matters changed when the teams swapped tallies in a span of 3:38, beginning with Sarah Young’s goal at 66:29.

Taking an Elanna Lalezari feed from the right wing, Young chipped in a 20-yarder just under the cross bar.

Sanford regrouped quickly, however, and knotted the score 1-1, when freshman Taylor Littlefield cashed in a corner kick from Emily Bordeau.

“She (Littlefield) is like the central command of our team,” said Brown. “She plays in the midfield and controls things.”

However, before the Redskins could build more momentum, Thornton regained the lead on Hall’s goal at 74:09.

It came after Hall received a short cross from Savannah Ribaudo and planted her left-footer into the back of the net.

“I didn’t think it went in at first,” said Hall. “I heard it hit the pole. I was in disbelief. It was great.”

Hall’s reaction may have been a little slow in coming, but not so with her teammates’.

“We were just so excited,” Arsenault said. “There’s really no way to describe it. We wanted it as much as any other team. We were just so happy that it went in.”

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.