CARY-Thanks to one assist and three second-half goals from junior Nader Jaibat, Green Hope will advance to the Eastern Semifinals of the 4-A Men's Soccer Tournament with a 5-3 win over Apex.

"Scoring goals is what makes me happy," Jaibat said.

And there was plenty of scoring to go around for both teams.

Green Hope led by as much as 3-1 when Jaibat netted his first goal of the night with 32:34 left in the second period. But just as Apex did in the two team's second meeting when it scored twice in the game's final 20 minutes to force an overtime, the Cougars scored in a flurry.

Sophomore Jason Galatioto sent one in unassisted at 25:44, then senior Michael Smith scored his second goal of the night just seconds later at 25:03, tying the game at 3-3.

"When's it's down to your last game, perhaps you play with a little extra fire. That extra fire was showing tonight. A lot of resiliency got rewarded," Apex coach Kevin Todd said. "Both teams wanted to win really bad ... No lead seemed to be safe."

But just like that previous match-up, when Green Hope won 5-2 in the overtime period, the Falcons responded again. Jabait took over, scoring the deciding goal with a defender draped over him at 24:45. It was his second goal of the night and game's third goal in 61 seconds.

"It was a see-saw," Green Hope coach Andrew Chadwick said. "Credit the mental aspect of our team to just keep on going. That's the part that I think is so critical. Mentally, we don't quit. We come back and push through."

Jaibat put the game on ice with his goal at 7:46 off the Justin Taylor assist.

"[Jaibat] just kind of took the game on his shoulders. He was determined," Chadwick said.

The Falcons scored twice in the game's opening eight minutes in what turned out to be a wild night for scoring. It was the first time all year Green Hope had given up three goals in a game, and the first time a team had scored on the Falcons this postseason. According to Todd, Apex didn't even get a shot on goal in the team's first meeting.

Both coaches said the game was nerve-wrecking to them, but fun to watch. The Apex scoring attack was unlike anything Chadwick's team, which prides itself on the play of its back line, had seen this year.

"Our defense is one of the best defenses I've ever coached here and maybe in the state and to get three goals against us means Apex is good. And they scored great goals," Chadwick said. "Apex was just pinging it through. When [our defense] needed to they clamped down and didn't let anything happen. That was very impressive."

The scoring barrage started at the 37:53 mark, when junior Jared Girard flicked in a goal off a free kick from senior Nick Butterly. About five minutes later, Jaibat found Martin Murphy for the goal to make it 2-0 in Green Hope's favor with 32:24 still to go in the first period.

Smith scored unassisted with 8:38 in the first period to give the Cougars hope down 2-1 going into halftime.

The Falcons will play on Saturday against Millbrook. The winner will advance to the 4-A East Final.

"Our boys seem like they've got something they want to play for next. There's that next game and that next practice," Chadwick said. "They don't want to turn in their uniforms just yet."

Goals: First period: GH-Jared Girard (assist to Nick Butterly) 37:53; GH-Martin Murphy (assist to Nader Jaibat) 32:24; AP-Michael Smith (unassisted) 8:38.

Second period: GH-Jaibat (assist to Logan Paussa) 32:34; AP-Smith unassisted 25:44; AP-Galatioto (assist to Arturo Alvan) 25:44; GH-Jaibat unassisted 24:45; GH-Jaibat (assist to Justin Taylor) 7:46.