my $goal = 'over';
my @array = qw(the quick fox jumped over the lazy dog);
foreach my $item (@array) {
   next unless $item =~ /$goal/;
   print $item;
}

##</code><code>##

my $goal = 'over';
my @array = qw(the quick fox jumped over the lazy dog);
for (@array) {
   next unless /$goal/;
   print $_;
   last
}

##</code><code>##

my $goal = 'over';
my @array = qw(the quick fox jumped over the lazy dog);
my $found_item;
foreach my $item (@array) {
   next unless $item =~ /$goal/;
   $found_item = $item;
   last;
}
if ($found_item) {
   print $found_item;
   # do other stuff
}

##</code><code>##

my $goal = 'over';
my @array = qw(the quick fox jumped over the lazy dog);
my $found;
foreach my $item (@array) {
   if ($item =~ /$goal/) {
      $found = 1;  # in case we need it later
      print $item;
      # do other stuff
      last;
   }
}