Woodside girls’ soccer is the team to beat in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division

Both teams lived up to their records as the two Central Coast Section heavyweights went toe to toe, with scoring chances difficult to come by and defenses that proved their worth.

In the end, however, Woodside prevailed, scoring once in each half to post a 2-0 victory.

“Fantastic game from both teams,” said Woodside assistant head coach Nacho Navarrete. “Very evenly matched. … As a team, we defended really well.”

Adding to the drama of Woodside’s strong start is that the Wildcats have done it mostly without longtime head coach Jose Navarrete, Nacho’s brother, who has battled an undiagnosed illlness for the last several weeks, limiting his ability to practice and train with the team.

“I’ve helped out on occasion through the years,” Nacho Navarrete said. “We have very similar views about soccer. I just instruct (the team) and train them like [Jose] wants to.”

It certainly helps to have the talent that consistently has the Wildcats challenging for league and section titles. And while they may not have that flashy goal scorer, they do have a number of players who know that hard work can overcome any perceived lack of style.

Oh — and Woodside also has Elise Evans, a Stanford-commit and considered among the best seniors in the country. It was her little flip pass that resulted in the Wildcats’ first goal, less than 10 minutes into the game. The sequence was started with a throw-in deep in the Burlingame end. A ball was served into the box, where in pinged around until Evans managed to get a boot on it and pop it up and over a defender to the far left post.

Kaitlyn Ryan was stationed there and she managed to poke a shot through traffic and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

This came after Burlingame broke in on goal off the opening kickoff. Amalie Pianim, who is also committed to Stanford, received a pass on the left flank and tore down the sideline. As she neared the end line, she cut a pass back to the top of the penalty box where she found Kaylee Ng, who, after a touch to settle the ball, rifled a shot toward goal — one that was deflected by a Woodside defender. The rebound came back to Ng, but she only managed a weak toe poke that was easily scooped up by Woodside goalkeeper Evangeline Viray.

“That first goal … it just killed me because it wasn’t a strong goal,” said Burlingame head coach Philip De Rosa.

Woodside (2-0 PAL Bay, 9-0 overall) nearly doubled its lead in the 19th minute, but Ryan’s shot from 25 yards out caromed off the crossbar.

Burlingame, meanwhile, controlled possession for most of the first half, earning a number of free kicks, but the Panthers simply struggled in the final third as the Woodside defense made a stand time and again.

“We were out of sync,” De Rosa said. “We just weren’t able to connect.”

The second half played out much like the first half. Most of the game was played in the midfield, with the occasional push on the defense. As time ticked away, Burlingame had to press higher and higher as it sought the equalizer.

“We got too defensive minded,” De Rosa said. “We weren’t moving up.”

The aggressive press is always a dangerous move because it opens up the counter-attack for the other team and in the 61st minute, the Wildcats finally caught them. A ball was played long to Sofia Bellver Eymann, who had a 2-on-1 break with Rachel Mull. Bellver Eymann carried the ball nearly to the end line before sending a cross to the front of the Burlingame goal.

Mull could not quite reach it in time and in an attempt to keep the ball in play, sent a cross back the other way. Bellver Eymann stayed with the play, however, and she was unmarked in front of the goal and tapped it home for the two-goal lead.

Hard work by our two forwards,” Nacho Navarrete said. “(Mull’s) work rate is fantastic.”