LISBON — Jackson Cohan-Smith would much rather pass the ball than shoot.

“He’s got a great soft pass and a great first touch,” North Yarmouth Academy coach Martyn Keen said. “He’s not usually the type to strike.”

Friday, he had no choice. Left alone in the middle of the field, Cohan-Smith gathered a through ball, dribbled four steps and fired a shot from 30 yards to the top corner of the cage past a leaping Shane Tanguay of Lisbon with 13:05 to play in regulation, lifting the Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Greyhounds.

“Our wings, we were putting them out wide, and we had a lot of space to go up the middle,” Cohan-Smith said. “I think they got caught back a little and I had a lot of time to dribble. I was just kicking it. I was just trying to make good contact.”

Cohan-Smith’s strike came less than two minutes after the Greyhounds tied the game on the perfect execution of a corner kick from the left side.

Ranked ninth and only in the playoffs because of a last-day decision involving two other teams in Western Class C, NYA is making its third consecutive trip to the regional final as either an eighth or ninth seed.

“It’s kind of funny that that keeps happening to us,” NYA coach Martyn Keen said. “We have such a tough schedule. I was telling (my assistant coach) earlier, we’re 19-17-4 in three regular seasons, and 8-2 in the playoffs, and all on the road.”

There was no illusion on the Lisbon bench about what NYA brought to the table. Last year, the Panthers dispatched No. 1 Wiscasset in the quarterfinals. This year, it was an emotional, last-second victory over No. 1 St. Dom’s.

“We don’t even look at that, we knew that coming into this game,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “NYA is a storied program. they’ve won state championships, and it’s tough to have that draw. But the guys left everything out there on the field today. I’m proud of them.”

The No. 4 Greyhounds, meanwhile, were making their second appearance in a Western semifinal after a season during which the players set several personal and team records, including a 27-goal, 41-point season from Ryan Fairbanks, who netted No. 27 on a header Friday.

With the wind at its back, NYA pressed for much of the opening half, earning five corner kicks to Lisbon’s one and forcing Tanguay to stop or handle several chances.

On the Panthers’ second corner of the game — almost immediately following their first — Oliver Silverson sent a bending ball to the far post from the left corner. D.J. Nicholas screamed in from the 18 and headed the ball past Tanguay to put the visitors on top by a goal.

At halftime, Tanguay, speaking before the coaching staff got to the huddle, tried to rally the team.

“Is this how you want your last game to end?” Tanguay said.

With Tanguay’s urging and an elevated urgency, the Greyhounds pressed hard for most of the second half, spending time deep in the NYA end.

“I’ll take a one-goal lead, any time,” Keen said. “The longer we didn’t get a second goal, though, (Lisbon) was just tenacious. They just came at us and at us and at us.”

Finally, on the team’s third corner of the game, Brady Fenderson bent the ball in from the left flag and Fairbanks redirected it past NYA keeper Ryan Salerno to even the game at 1-1.

“Lisbon made it very difficult, they’re a very tenacious group,” Keen said.

The goal appeared to awaken a sleeping giant.

The Panthers caught Lisbon with too many men pushed forward, sent the ball into the middle for Cohan-Smith, where he finished with the game-winner.

“We were trying to get the two wide kids to stay wide and leave that hole in the middle,” Keen said.

“We missed a mark there on a quick transition, we didn’t cover and they got the go-ahead goal,” Sylvester said. “That’s kind of hard to come back at. We tried to make a push at the end, but we were unsuccessful at it.”

NYA will face Western Maine Conference rival Waynflete in the Western Class C final next week.

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