The Paly girls soccer team defeated Saratoga High School in a league game on Tuesday night. Although the match was tight, the team was able to work together to secure the win in the end.

The match did not kick off as strong as the team hoped, but Sophomore Areet Rao was able to put Paly on the board with a goal in the first half, giving a 1-0 lead.

“Overall, I think we started off not as high of an intensity but as the game moved forward we picked things up,” junior Polina Van Hulsen said.

As the game progressed, Paly ramped it up, showing strong connection with solid passing and creative runs from all players, especially succeeding in switching the ball from one side of the field to the other.

Despite this, Saratoga responded with a goal late in the second half, putting pressure on Paly to quickly retaliate in order to break the tie before the final whistle.

“Our main challenges really had to do with locking in and keeping that intensity up,” Van Hulsen said.

The game was closing in a 1-1 tie when junior Evin Steele scored a goal to bring Paly an exciting 2-1 victory. Overall the team showed great perseverance to bounce back after their tough loss to Los Altos last week.

“The game was intense but we were able to play together as a team,” Rao said.