PARKLAND - Twenty-three seconds.

It sounds like an insignificant amount of time.Barely long enough to send a text message, place an order at the refreshment stand, or adjust your umbrella in the pouring rain.But if you did any of those things during Thursday's District 11 Class 4A boys soccer match between Pleasant Valley and Parkland, you might have found out just how vital a 23-second stretch can be.Because that's exactly how long it took the Trojans to score a pair of goals - the only goals of the game - in a 2-0 rain-drenched victory over the Bears."We had one defensive lapse for less than a minute and Parkland took advantage of it," said Pleasant Valley coach Chris Pachuta. "Parkland has a lot of offensive weapons, so the chances were they weren't going to be shut out."That first goal didn't destroy us. We knew we were going to have to score to win anyway. But the second goal hurt. A two-goal deficit against a talented team like Parkland wasn't a situation we wanted to be in."Peter Kwakye-Ackah got Parkland on the board when he took a perfect pass from Justin Douglas and drilled a shot just inside the right post with 14:28 remaining in the opening half.The Trojans quickly stole the ball back and Kwakye-Ackah once again played a key role as he fed the ball to Tsegaye Geiger, who converted it into a goal and a 2-0 lead with 14:05 left in the half."Peter missed the last two weeks with an injury so it was nice to get him back," said Parkland coach Patrick Birns about one of his team's top offensive weapons.Despite the deficit, Pachuta said his message to the Bears at halftime was that there would be opportunities.He proved to be right as PV had two excellent chances to make things interesting in the second half.The first came with just under 25 minutes remaining when the Bears' Malichai Jones stole the ball just outside the Parkland 18-yard box, took a couple of dribbles, and unloaded a rocket that just sailed over the crossbar.With a little over 10 minutes left, Zac Maderia got behind the Trojan defense, but couldn't convert the opportunity."We didn't generate as many scoring chances as I would have liked, but we did have two great opportunities in the second half," said Pachuta. "On the first one, we missed by inches. On the second one, we shot a little earlier than we had to and didn't hit it as well as we could have."If we convert just one of those chances, it changes the entire complexion of the game."Pleasant Valley didn't have all the scoring opportunities in the second half as Parkland had several excellent chances as well. But Bear goalie Brad Birckman came up big, time and time again."Brad is lights out," said Pachuta. "He was the all-league first team goalie and is the best goalie in the history of our school."That's what he has done all year. He keeps us in every game."But Brickman's stellar effort wasn't enough because of one short, but damaging stretch by the Trojans."You never like losing, but I'm happy with the season," Pachuta. "A play here, a goal there, and it could have been even better than it was."We lost eight games this season and six of them were by one goal. Tonight's loss matches our largest margin of defeat. So we showed we can play with almost anyone."TURF HELP … Despite the day-long rain, including some hard downpours during the game, Parkland's turf field held up well. There was no standing water on the field and both coaches said the weather wasn't a factor in the outcome.MOVING ON… Parkland, the No 2 seed in the tournament, improves to 16-2-2 on the season. It will face Liberty in the semifinals.OVER AND OUT… Pleasant Valley, which was the No. 7 seed in the tournament, finishes its season with an 11-8 record.