The Paly varsity girls’ soccer team defeated the Homestead Mustangs 3-1 on Wednesday at Mayfield Field, extending their undefeated record to 9 and 0.

“We definitely didn’t have any trouble dominating Homestead,” junior captain Caitlin Watson said.

The game started off with a bang as midfielder Teresa Noyola made a threatening shot on goal within the first minute of play. Although the kick was blocked, Paly continued to put pressure on the Homestead defense. After several more unsuccessful opportunities, their offensive efforts resulted in a goal scored by Noyola, 12 minutes into the first half.

“Homestead was tough and well-organized,” Noyola, the senior captain, said. “They did a decent job of defending our attack. However, we needed to do a much better job of finishing.”

After scoring, Paly immediately resumed its offensive press. A quick series of passes led to the second Viking goal, this time by sophomore forward Kelly Jenks. But after several minutes of passing, Homestead was able to score on their first and only offensive press of the half, making the score 2-1.

“We had a kind of shaky first half,” Paly head coach Ernesto Cruz said. “We were obviously dominating, but we just weren’t converting our opportunities into goals.”

The second half yielded a similar result, with the Paly girls maintaining possession and keeping the action in Homestead’s end of the field. Paly managed to score again after Noyola put away a shot from inside the 18-yard box, bringing the tally to 3-1.

Cruz was largely pleased with the result.

“I moved around some players at the half to see if they could make something happen,” Cruz said, “but Teresa really helped us get a little more comfortable by giving us that two-goal lead.”

The girls’ extensive passing game and execution of set plays on the field put the team in several scoring situations. Although unable to convert on many of these opportunities, the players were pleased with how the team played during the match.

“I think we played a pretty good possession game,” Watson said, “we had a lot of opportunities, so we could have scored a lot more.”

Besides solidifying their offense, the Paly girls will have to think about ways to improve their game. Some already have specific things in mind for the team to work on.

“We need to communicate better, especially the defenders,” Noyola said. “We will also need to focus on staying in shape and using our outside wing speed to our advantage.”

The match against Homestead marked the midpoint of the regular season, and the team has dominated most of their competition thus far. But still nine more games remain before their postseason tournaments.

“Overall the team’s doing great, and our 9-0 record is pretty sweet,” Watson said.

Paly lost their match against Los Altos 1-0 on Friday, Dec. 14, ending their streak. The next game will be on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 2:30 pm at Mayfield.