Good teams find ways to win even if they are not on top of their game.

That was the case in yesterday's Pleasant Valley girls' soccer 1-0 victory over Pocono Mountain West. The game wasn't the high-scoring contest that might have been expected as the Bears came in averaging over four goals a game while the Panthers averaged over three.The Lady Bears (18-3) were coming off a tough loss in last week's Mountain Valley Conference title game. They started sluggishly as the Lady Panthers gained a territorial advantage in the first six minutes of the game. West, which had earned the right to play Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinals with a play-in win on Tuesday, kept the ball on offense with a series of long kicks.With under 24 minutes to go in the half, senior midfielder Ema Sabovic angled a pass through the Pocono Mountain West defense to sophomore Erin Sharpe, who drilled the ball into the right corner of the net to score what would become the only goal of the game.The remainder of the half was uneventful, although that was good news for the Panthers, who trailed by one to the top-seeded Bears at the break."Our defensive goal was to contain Gabby Lucchese and we did a great job on her all afternoon," said Panther coach Dave Lawrence."Although we had too much sloppy play," said Bears coach Tim Hinton, "I wasn't concerned about how they would respond after losing the title game. We have great senior leadership and they got our younger players to keep their focus. We just need to get the ball deeper and generate more shots."The second half saw Pleasant Valley start off with more energy as it kept the pressure on the Panthers defense for the first five minutes. As the blustery winds seemed to change direction, so did the momentum of the game as the Panthers threatened to tie it.At the 33 minute mark, Kelsey Tambasco nearly got to the ball before Bears' goalie Hailey Parks did and that might have resulted in an open netter, but Parks prevailed. Then after a couple of corners, Parks made a nice save from the left side by the Panthers' Nikki Brigante."Our offensive strategy was to stay to our left to penetrate and we did just that for most of the second half," said Lawrence. "Unfortunately for us, we just couldn't find the back of the net."With under 22 minutes to go, West (13-6-1) had another great opportunity to score. Upon a Panther kick, the ball again sailed over everyone and the race to it was on by Parks, who ran nearly 20 yards out of her goal crease and PMW's Tambasco. Both players appeared to get to the ball simultaneously, and a collision occurred prompting Lawrence to plea for a foul on the play, but the referee ruled that Parks had first kicked the ball into Tambasco's chest before inadvertently colliding with her"They certainly brought pressure against us even though we shut down Kira Flaherty who we thought was their biggest threat," said Hinton. "Our defense seemed to bend several times, but it didn't break."The Bears finished with five shots while Parks stopped six in earning the shutout.Pleasant Valley will play the winner of the Bangor-Easton game on Tuesday in the district semifinals.