After a rough start in the first half of Wednesday’s first Central Coast Section game against Sequoia High School, the Paly boys varsity soccer team managed to pull out another 1-0 win and secure its position in the CCS playoffs.

“In the first 15 minutes of the game, Sequoia (8-5-5) came out and played a different game than before,” head coach Don Briggs said. “Our defense really stepped it up, and we were able to adapt on the fly.”

Senior Scott Ostrau, assisted by juniors Kevin Ashworth and Adam Zernik, scored the only goal of the night less than half way into the first half.

“We scored and then we just knew we had to keep the pressure up to try and possess the ball,” Ashworth said.

After the goal, the Paly boys controlled the field for most of the game, giving Sequoia few breaks past the midfield line.

Sequoia had two unsuccessful shots on goal within the first few minutes of the second half, the second barely missing the goal. Throughout the entire second half, Sequoia managed to maintain possession of the ball for only 15 minutes.

“I wasn’t really worried about Sequoia scoring because we have a really strong defense and we had a really strong first half,” junior goalie Peter Johnson said. “I knew that we could get back to how we were playing in the first half, we just had stay composed.”

In the last 20 minutes of the game, the ball bounced back and forth between Paly and Sequoia. Paly’s defense held strong and managed to keep their one goal lead, ending their game in victory.

“When we were pressuring Sequoia, they didn’t have the opportunity to score,” Ashworth said. “We just had to stay strong until the end of the game.”

The boy’s next CCS game is on Saturday where they have the possibility of facing the No. 1 seed, South San Francisco.

Briggs maintains a positive attitude about his team.

“I think we can compete with anyone.” Briggs said. “All season, I’ve never felt like we can’t win.”