South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Tatiana Panagos scored with 54 seconds remaining to lift American Heritage-Delray to a 2-1 victory over St. Thomas in girls' semifinals of the adidas Palm Beach Classic at Village Park on Friday night.

Panagos, an eighth grader, took a pass from freshman Karina Rodriguez and slotted it past a charging Raiders' goalkeeper Keely Williams and for her 14th goal of the season as Heritage-Delray remained undefeated at 20-0. The Stallions will face Wellington, a 3-1 winner over Satellite Beach, in the championship game tonight at 7.

"I wanted to score," Panagos said. "I was pretty nervous when [St. Thomas] scored, but I was determined to win [it]. This is my top goal of the year because it is the semifinals and we want to finish undefeated. It is a big honor to finish undefeated."

Heritage-Delray midfielder Stacey Payne gave the Stallions a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute when she converted a penalty kick. Payne drew the call when St. Thomas defender Cassandra Santangelo held her as she tried to break in on goal.

"This year we have the most determination to win state and this is our best team we have ever had," said Payne, one of two seniors on the Stallions' squad.

St. Thomas (17-1-1) battled back to tie the game in the 68th minute when senior Amanda Goldberg sent a long diagonal pass to freshman Ana Cuffia, whose 20-yard blast beat Stallions' goalkeeper Samantha Perretty to tie the game at 1.

Aquinas coach Carlos Giron said the team is not playing up to its potential.

"We could have played better today, but we didn't," said Giron, whose team will play at the Norland Texas Showcase tournament next week. "They are a good team and you have to give 100 percent. We are trying to find our strengths and weaknesses, getting us ready for the district playoffs."

In a boys' semifinal, Boca High edged Douglas, 1-0 (8-7 penalty kicks) to advance to the 7 p.m. championship game today against Wellington, a 2-1 (5-4 penalty kicks) winner over Lyman.

Boca High (18-1) nearly won the game in regulation but Eduardo Otaegui's blast from 18 yards out struck the post and was cleared away. The teams battled to a scoreless tie and was forced to go to the 11th shooter after going through the first five deadlocked at 4 and then being tied at 7 after 10 shooters. Douglas goalkeeper Cory Ferro saved three penalty kicks during the shootout, but failed to stop the Bobcats' Felipe Astudillo on his attempt, which touched off a wild celebration for Boca. Bobcats' goalkeeper Matt Dicerbo came up with five saves, including one on Douglas' final attempt by Chris Lamarre. Douglas is 9-6-3.