Having seen an early lead and shots advantage slip away in the second half, Pleasant Valley boys soccer coach Chris Pachuta urged his squad to be proactive instead of reactive.

The tip worked in the nick of time as senior Devon Woltal found the back of the net with 3:35 remaining in overtime to post a 2-1 Bears victory over Whitehall in a District 11 Class AAA first round game."There was a lot of emotion on that field," said Woltal. "We're just trying to work as hard as we can and I put all the drive left in me into that shot. They had a lot of great opportunities, but we stood strong, countered and got a goal out of it."The host and seventh-seeded Bears opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the game with a Kyle Dooner strike from the left wing.Zephyr forward Javaughn Hussett made the Bears pay with the equalizer six minutes later."There were definitely moments in this game where I thought they were the better team," Pachuta said. "You navigate the hills and valleys. You could see the momentum building and building in overtime and I was hoping we would get some kind of chance. We hope it falls at Devon's feet because he's our guy."After Dooner's goal, both teams squandered nice chances before the first half ended.Hussett just missed putting home a header and Pleasant Valley's Zac Madeira sailed one wide right.Whitehall also couldn't convert a free kick or subsequent corner kick as the halftime buzzer sounded.The Zephyrs outshot the Bears 9-4 in the second half and continued to put the pressure on in overtime before Woltal's game winner."Our goalkeeper Brad Brickman has been our rock," Pachuta said. "He made two incredible saves at the end, one off the line and then he got a little help from one of our defenders. The point blank saves he makes, they are a step away from being world class. Without him making those saves multiple times this year, we're not in the situation we are."With the win, Pleasant Valley will travel to second-seeded Emmaus for a district quarterfinal Saturday at noon. The Hornets defeated the Bears 3-0 earlier this year."We have to take some of the stretches of positive energy we had here and try to put together one great game against Emmaus," Woltal said.Pachuta knows the next test won't be easy, adding that his squad has to "fix a few mistakes."TALE OF TWO HALVES. ... The Bears got off to a quick start, outshooting the Zephyrs 7-5 in the opening half, but Whitehall countered with a 9-4 advantage in the second half. Both sides took four shots in overtime.FRUSTRATION THEN JUBILATION. ... Whitehall rode the emotional roller coaster early in the second half. Senior forward Michael Saccani was sent to the sideline after a yellow card for arguing with an official, but Hussett restored the smiles on the Zephyr sideline just 30 seconds later with the equalizing goal.CLEAN SWEEP. ... With the win, Pleasant Valley goes 2-for-2 on the year against Whitehall. The Bears won the regular season contest 2-0 on Sept. 26.LOOKING TO STOP GROH. ... When Pleasant Valley takes the pitch Saturday against Emmaus, they'll be looking to contain Hornets junior forward Stephen Groh. Groh tallied all three goals when Emmaus shut out the Bears earlier this year.