SOUTH HADLEY — A penalty shootout won Frontier Regional School the Western Massachusetts Division III boys’ soccer title last season.

Wednesday, another one gave the Red Hawks a chance to defend it.

The fourth-seeded Red Hawks outlasted top-seeded Hampshire Regional High School, 8-7, in the semifinal shootout after a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation and two overtime periods. The Red Hawks will face Belchertown High School on Sunday at Westfield State University in a matchup of the past two sectional champions. The game time has not yet been determined.

Sophomore keeper Peter Bronke made two saves, including the Raiders’ penultimate attempt.

“It was really intense. It was really nerve wracking,” Bronke said.

Matt Babyak hit Hampshire’s eighth penalty kick too high and off the crossbar. That set up Tenzin Tsundue to be a hero. He beat Hampshire keeper Mike McColgan to the bottom left corner of the goal, turned around and ran toward a mob of red swarming him.

It didn’t take long for the Red Hawks’ student section to join them on the field in celebration and to sing the fight song.

Frontier only missed one penalty outright, and Alex Gheorghita’s was saved.

Noah Jacques made one of the Red Hawks’ penalties, earning a measure of redemption for an earlier mistake. He attempted to clear a Dillon Pooler cross in the 26th minute but sent it into his own net.

Frontier coach Dale Totman reminded his team of the adversity they’d faced during the season at halftime.

“I said, ‘Hey let’s look at this like a microcosm of the season,” he said. “We’re down, but there’s still so much to play for. Can we pull out of this? Can we pass this mental strength test?”

Dough Hanieski did.

He corralled a ball inside Hampshire’s penalty box in the 43rd minute and fired it past McColgan to tie the game at 1.

“It came out to me, I took a touch, it bounced a bit because of the turf, I just tired to hit it with the outside of my foot, it curled to corner,” Hanieski said.

Frontier created the better chances over the remaining 37 minutes of regulation and both overtime periods but couldn’t find a winner.

“We really put the hurt on them at the end, we just couldn’t finish,” Bronke said.

Bronke and the Red Hawks shooters finished it in short order.