Bears edge Bangor

It might not have been the best 80 minutes of soccer that Pleasant Valley has played this season, but thanks to one brief instance of offensive success, it was enough to keep the season alive.

The Bears edged Bangor, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 Class AAA soccer playoffs on Friday.

Pleasant Valley will now face Parkland in Tuesday's semifinals at Whitehall High School.

"It may not have been the prettiest, but we just find ways to keep working hard," Pleasant Valley coach Tim Hinton said. "I tell the girls everyday, 'Work hard and leave it on the field, and good things will happen.'"

In a game where neither side had many scoring opportunities, it was the Bears' Maggie Patterson who provided the lone offensive highlight. The junior midfielder cashed in on one of her team's six shots. Patterson beat Slaters' keeper Steph Wain.

With 14:27 left in the first half, Patterson took a feed from senior midfielder Mel Nikocevik and took off with it. She crept closer to the goal with Slater defenders moving in on her and then used her left foot to beat Wain to the back left end of the Bangor posts.

While several different Bears have played key roles in the team's 15 victories this season, Hinton watched one of his eight juniors stake claim to the hero's role in the Bears' district playoff opener.

"One way Maggie amazes me is that she finds the space to sneak through," Hinton said. "She reads the game - not perfectly, but she reads the game beautifully. She sees that space and she moves to the ball.

"She anticipated the ball would go there and it found her feet. She then made the most of it."

Midway through the second half, the Slaters came close to knotting the score .

While the Slaters only rattled off four shots at PV keeper Jackie Giuliano, One of them came within a whisker of tying the score.

With 18:10 left in the game, the Slaters' Emily Howell pushed a feed into a streaking Abigail Bakke right in front of the Bears' net. Bakke got enough foot on it, but as she tried to lift the ball over Giuliano's reach, it was too high and it ricochet off the crossbar and away from the net.

It was one that may have stopped the hearts of many of the PV faithful in the stands, but it was a situation that Hinton hopes serves a purpose in turning up the Bears' defense the rest of the game.

"I hope that was like a little wake-up call for us," Hinton said. "We knew they would come strong at us. They're a really good team from front to back.

"I told my team, 'Bend, but don't break.' We held our own today. Luck has to be on your side sometimes."

Pleasant Valley keeper Jackie Giuliano was glad to see her season season extended another week. The four-year varsity player was happy that the Bears were able to make a statement with this win.

"I'm just happy," said Giuliano, who ended up with two saves. "It's nice to win and make it to the semifinals. It's only the second time we reached this round during my career. A lot of people doubted us. So, it's nice to prove them wrong. Now we're ready to keep moving on."