The Paly varsity girls’ soccer team tied the Monta Vista Matadors, 1-1, on Wednesday at Mayfield, putting the Vikings in third place in the division.

The Vikings, who were up 1-0 for most of the game, allowed a Matador goal in the final five minutes of play. Paly was unable to respond in the remaining time.

“We really played pretty well,” Paly head coach Ernesto Cruz said. “I thought we had the game, so it was unfortunate that we lost.”

The Paly goal, scored 35 minutes into the game by senior co-captain and forward Leah Gaeta, disrupted the Matador offensive press that had pressured the Viking’s defense for most of the first half. Paly was unable to hold its momentum for long, and Monta Vista resumed its attack late in the second half, resulting in a final minute goal that tied the score.

The Paly girls (7-2-4 in league) suffered some unaccustomed difficulties during the match. Sophomore starters Kelly Jenks and Maeve Stewart are participating in a Super Y Olympic Development Training team in Florida and were unable to play in Wednesday’s game. Also, senior co-captain Teresa Noyola was unable to play part of the game due to illness.

“We weren’t up to our full force today,” junior co-captain Caitlin Watson said. “We were missing a lot of players, so we could have done better. We need to come out strong against Mountain View.”

The girls’ next game will be on Friday at Mayfield at 3:30 p.m. against Moutain View. Paly will need either a win or a tie in order to advance to Central Coast Section post-season play.