The Paly girls’ soccer team defeated Menlo-Atherton 1-0 in the CCS quarterfinals at home Saturday afternoon.

Jacey Pederson (‘16) scored the lone goal for the Vikings during stoppage time at the end of the first half.

“I think in the first half we played really well,” Pederson said. “We came out super strong. In the second half, we lowered our play a little bit, but overall it was a good win. We really toughed it out at the end.”

Paly controlled the ball for much of the first half and spent most of it on Menlo-Atherton’s side of the field. Despite the constant pressure, the team could not score until the end of the first half when Pederson dribbled the the length of the field and fired a shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

During the second half, play became heated as 4 yellow cards were given out and fouls were increasingly called. Paly played more on the defensive as Menlo-Atherton pushed for the equalizer. In the final minutes, Paly had almost every player back trying to clear the ball and protect the goal.

“This week we really practiced clearing balls and defending corners so I think we did a good job of that,” Pederson said. “Previously, we had gotten scored on like that.”

The Vikings managed to close out the game with a shutout while preventing Menlo-Atherton from taking very many shots. They will play next in the CCS semifinals this coming week.