STROUDSBURG - "Arte et labore."

The Latin phrase, which means "by skill and labor," adorns much of the Pleasant Valley boys' soccer team's warm-up gear.Another, more straightforward mantra, is also emblazoned on the Bears' pregame kits: Family.Entering its District 11 Class AAA quarterfinal against Stroudsburg, there was no question Pleasant Valley would need all of those qualities to come together in what was to surely be another close contest.The Mounties and Bears split two regular season meetings, with each team winning its respective home game by a 1-0 tally.Pleasant Valley exorcised any demons from that September loss at Ross-Stulgaitis Stadium on Friday by claiming a 1-0 victory over Stroudsburg to advance to the semifinal round for the second consecutive year.The No. 5 seeded Bears made an own goal by the fourth-seeded Mounties less than four minutes into the game stand-up, a play Pleasant Valley coach Chris Pachuta made sure his team was ready for long before the game began."I thought we played pretty well," Pachuta said afterwards. "We watched a lot of film this week and we've had off for almost two weeks, so we had a lot of time to prepare. We wanted to make sure that our eyes were on the ball, and if the opportunity arose for us to score, we wanted to be able to take it."Pleasant Valley (12-6-2) took advantage of a corner kick off the foot of Kelvy Gomez that ricocheted off a Stroudsburg player in front of the net and went past goalie Nico Ruiz."We lucked out a little bit on a set piece there, but that was designed," Pachuta said. "That's not by mistake. That was the design of the play."Pachuta and his staff also devised a nearly perfect plan to contain a Stroudsburg (14-4-1) offense that featured several talented skill players."It's not really our style to pick one guy," the coach said of the team's strategy. "We try to look at any way they might create opportunities, no matter who the player is."A couple times during the first half they did get in, but (goalie) Brad Brickman did a great job stopping them."With scoring opportunities limited, Stroudsburg coach Michael Kane knew making the most of any breaks his team got would be key.Unfortunately, there just weren't enough for the Mounties to capitalize on."Chances in this game were few-and-far-between for both teams," he said. "It was just a midfield battle. Every time these two teams get together you know it's going to be a close game."I have to give credit to PV's defense for they way they held up. We just couldn't find the net."While the Bears' back line did a masterful job of keeping pressure away from Brickman throughout much of the match, the sophomore rose to the occasion late in one of the biggest moments of the game for either side.With just under seven minutes to play in the second half, Stroudsburg's Matt McDermott found just enough room in front of the Pleasant Valley net to steady the ball and square up one of the Mounties' best scoring chances of the match.But Brickman stood tall, knocking the ball away to preserve the shutout and ultimately the win."I wasn't going to let my team down," Brickman said. "This was a huge game and means everything for us to win it."Pachuta was quick to praise Brickman's efforts in this game and throughout the season."He's lights out," Pachuta said of Brickman. "He had 10 shutouts last year and he has several this season. He's unbelievable."And he's resilient. He came into the season a little banged up. But he's gotten better as the year's gone on and that injury has healed. The kid just makes the big saves." Pleasant Valley will take on top seed Emmaus, a 3-0 winner over No. 8 seed Liberty, Tuesday, October 28.The challenge is one Pachuta welcomes."We're tested. We're ready to go," he said. "All of these games are going to be tight from now on and we'll see what happens."