YARMOUTH — You can’t count out the understaffed North Yarmouth Academy field hockey team, even as the clock is winding down.

Marina Poole scored off a pass from Charlotte Eisenberg with 44.6 seconds left to give NYA a 1-0 victory over Sacopee Valley in a Western Class C quarterfinal Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Panthers (11-4) move on to a regional semifinal Tuesday at top-ranked Oak Hill. No. 5 Sacopee Valley ends its season at 8-7.

“It was just another case of being in the right place at the right time,” Poole said. “It was a (penalty) corner; MacKenzie (Sangster) put it in play, Charlotte tipped it to me, and I whacked it in.”

NYA Coach Tracy Quimby wasn’t surprised to see Poole score the winner.

“We ended up putting (Poole) in the midfield,” Quimby said. “Sometimes when you have a strong player you have to play her out of position because that’s what can best help the team. And that’s what the focus is with these girls.”

The result was notable on a few fronts. First, the Panthers again went the whole game a player down, with only 10 available girls. Then, with Miranda Schaubhut, Abby Ouellette and Lynne Hebert leading Sacopee’s second-half surge, NYA gave up a two-player advantage for about 3 minutes, as Sangster, a center forward, came off for treatment after a hard fall.

“We just wanted to win for (Sangster),” Poole said, “because that’s definitely the worst, when you’re off and something bad happens.”

The Panthers dominated in the first half but faced an energized Sacopee Valley team the rest of the way.

NYA finished with an edge in shots (20-9) and penalty corners (6-4).

In a matchup of two of the Western Maine Conference’s top goalies, Sacopee Valley’s Chloe Ronco made 12 saves and NYA’s Elizabeth Coughlin stopped three shots.

“Sacopee played an incredible game,” Quimby said. “I’m very pleased with our team. They’ve pulled through at a lot of adverse times, and today they did it one more time.”

Backs Jenna Block and Alexandra Barnes again logged strong minutes for NYA, nimbly stepping up to cut off through passes or calmly redirecting play out of their defensive third. Linnea Hull, Keeley Bartolini, Poole and Kierstan Marr connected well through the midfield.

Sacopee Valley Coach Terry Barnes was pleased with her team’s showing over the final 30 minutes.

“I knew in the second half we were going to kick it into gear, that’s just the way we are,” Barnes said.

“And we did fight hard all the way to the end.”

The Panthers adapted to Sacopee Valley’s pressure, though, and were able to hold.

Quimby took a pragmatic view of NYA’s next opponent and the playing surface.

“Our speed and skill might show a little more on turf, but in the end I don’t care where we play,” Quimby said. “As long as we give it our best.”