Julio Lara/Daily Journal Serra's Antoine Martel shoots but misses just wide in Saturday's 2-1 win over Valley Christian.
	Julio Lara/Daily Journal Serra's Gerald Ingemansson gets off a shot which resulted in the game-winning goal after Nick Schnabel pounced on the rebound.

Sometimes you win with more than just your legs and your head in a soccer match. The Serra High School soccer team proved Saturday afternoon that it also takes poise.

The Padres were rewarded with a late goal against Valley Christian High School en route to a 2-1 win over the Warriors in West Catholic Athletic League play. Typical of all WCAL contests, the toughness and grind of the schedule produce certain lulls in matches and on Saturday, Serra was the mentally tougher team.

"I think my guys are coming around,” said Serra head coach Jeff Panos of his team's cerebral make up. "We've had a couple of early-season games where I think we were undone a bit, particularly with a goal like we gave up today. But today, we stayed with it. We talked at halftime about keeping the pressure on.

"The wind played a huge factor. That was for sure. And I think this is a late January WCAL game for both teams, really, really highly contested, both teams want the points and I really liked how we were able to bounce back from the mistake we don't see very often.”

Panos is talking about a 50-yard wonder shot by Valley Christian in the seventh minute that floated through the air and caught the Serra goalkeeper well off his line to give the Warriors the early 1-0 lead. The shot was one of only two shots Valley Christian got on frame during the first half.

Serra for its part did its best to put pressure on the wings with Tim Trzeciak and Lee Vella. They also found offensive success with Gerald Ingemansson but had no goal to show for their efforts.

"Valley isn't quite as physical as the other teams we see so I think the ball movement gets a lot crisper, a lot better and our strength is our wing play and then our guy up front,” Panos said, referring to Nick Schnabel. "So, if we can connect those wings and exploit that space, not only do we do well in attacking, but I think we also take away, they play a 4-5-1 with that concentrated middle, and if we keep it away from that middle, it takes them away from their offensive rhythm.”

With things getting a bit chippy, Serra earned a free kick late in the first half to the left of the penalty box some 20 yards away.

Up stepped Robert Peardon, who surveyed the box and decided to strike the ball to Valley Christian's far post. The Warrior goalkeeper didn't even move and Peardon equalized at the 39-minute mark.

"I was looking to score on that,” Peardon said. "When it's closer to the box, I look to take it, have a shot, get it on goal.”

"He's been doing that for us all season,” Panos said of his captain, "kind of leading the way and standing there when the pressure is on. That was our fifth restart in a two-minute span, so to finally get the reward I think is good.”

The second half was frantic to say the least. Valley Christian controlled the initial stages, forcing Serra into a couple of miraculous saves on balls just inches from crossing the goal line.

But the Padres weathered the Warrior storm and their continued persistence on the wings with Trzeciak, Antoine Martel and Ingemansson finally paid off late.

With 11 and change to go, Ingemansson's hustle up the right side netted him a shot on net that was saved by the Valley Christian keeper. But in text book fashion, Schnabel continued his run and pounced on the rebound, poking it into the VC net to give Serra the lead.

"Just coming out strong and getting the goal helped us get some motivation,” Peardon said when asked what the difference in Saturday's game was. "Coming out the second half, we didn't do too good but we found it, got that though ball and got that cross into Gerald. It gave us confidence and we finished strong.”

"As they're kind of playing the counter attack and had the wind in their favor, to get a goal like we did, against the run of play, showed poise on our part,” Panos said. "So I was very proud.”

The win is the 10th on the year for the Padres, making them eligible for the Central Coast Section playoffs later this year.