Interrant kicks AA title-winner for Smithtown East

For the second straight year, the Class AA girls soccer Suffolk County championship ended in "walk-off" fashion. This year's hero? Jaclyn Interrant.

Still tied after 110 minutes of scoreless soccer and five penalty kicks, Interrant fired a shot high and straightaway that found the back of the net as No. 6 Smithtown East (15-4-1) defeated defending Long Island champion No. 5 West Islip (15-2-3) in sudden death penalty shots, 3-2, to win the county championship Wednesday at Dowling Athletic Complex.

"I was shaking on the sideline, everyone was trying to calm me down," said Interrant, who scored after Amanda Ruggiero and Lyndsay Hartman. "I kind of just let the nerves go when I walked up the ball, put it down, shot it and it was good . . . I was just so happy that we finally got our championship and that I was able to finish it for us."

The only thing colder than the temperature was the ice water in Michelle Conrad's veins. The Smithtown East senior keeper made consecutive diving stops to set up Interrant's game-winner.

"I knew that I had to come up big because it was going into sudden death and I really just wanted to come up with a save for my team to take the pressure off Jackie because if they score she has to make it to stay in the game."

It was a game filled with saves by both keepers as Conrad finished with 14 saves and West Islip's Samantha Whitney made nine before making a beautiful diving stop on a penalty kick by Kelly Stumper to keep West Islip's title hopes alive.

Smithtown East advances to play the winner of Massapequa and Oceanside in the Long Island championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dowling.

"My team is great, they've all been fighting for it and now county champs isn't all we are stopping at," Conrad said. "It was kind of unreal. You feel like it's like a really good dream. I sat down on the field and laid there for a second like, 'Did that really just happen?' "