LIVERPOOL - It seemed like it took forever.

For nearly the entire first half, the Weedsport field hockey team kept tormenting the New York Mills' defense. The second-seeded Warriors hounded the No. 3 Marauders until there was 29 seconds left before intermission before Coach Theresa Leonardi decided to take a timeout and discuss things. Twenty-three seconds later, Weedsport got the result it was looking for.

Sharra Brentlinger scored with six seconds left in the first half and Chelsea Paquette found Katie Loperfido early in the second to give the Warriors a 2-1 victory.

Weedsport will play No. 1-seeded Morrisville-Eaton at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rome Free Academy for the Section III Class D championship.

“I don't know how many shots we had on goal and I don't know how many corners we had, but I do know that they are a very difficult team to score on,” Leonardi said. “I think you have to give them a lot of credit. they never gave up. Not once.”

Leonardi took the time out on a penalty corner to set the play up. The first attempt didn't work, but the Warriors were awarded another corner seconds later.

With Leonardi shouting to get the play off before the half, Brentlinger connected.

“I was afraid that we weren't going to get it off in time,” Leonardi said. “Once you get it going you're okay, but I was really concerned that we weren't going to get it off in time.”

The goal was somewhat of a welcomed surprise for Brentlinger.

“I honestly didn't know that I scored until my teammates told me what had happened, because it went off of a defenders stick and hit the goalie's pads and then bounced in the corner.”

Weedsport immediately pressured New York Mills in the second half. The Warriors seemed to get to every ball first, even with the slick turf speeding up the game.

“Our team adjusted well to the turf,” Leonardi said. “We worked a lot on that this week, trying to make sure that we knew what to do and how to adjust our game from the grass to the turf and I thought that was really helpful.”

Less than 10 minutes into the second half Paquette passed to forward Loperfido, one of several Weedsport players to spend a fair amount of time in front of the New York Mills goal. She scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal with almost 24 minutes left.

The Warriors continued to hold the Marauders without a shot until under the four minute mark. Finally, on New York Mills' second penalty corner of the game, Courtney Kain made the Warriors nervous, slipping a shot past goalie Kaitlin Hammersley.

With just minutes left, Weedsport turned away every New York Mills opportunity. The Warriors led in shots, 6-1, and corners, 8-2.

While Weedsport (15-4) looked unstoppable on Friday, it will face a formidable task in the championship game. Morrisville-Eaton has strung together numerous Section III championships, and defeated Port Byron 5-1 to reach the title game.

“We know we've got to give it an even better effort than we did tonight if we want to be successful,” Leonardi said. “They are an outstanding team. You don't get to be 18-1 by accident.”