For the eight time in nine games this season, the Pleasant Valley girls soccer team didn’t allow a goal during regulation play.

Unfortunately for the Bears, their District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal round game on Saturday didn’t end in regulation.

Erin Vincent scored less than a minute into sudden death overtime to give Easton a 1-0 victory and provide a heartbreaking end to Pleasant Valley’s season.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said Bears’ head coach Tara Hyland. “They played with such heart and effort today.

“Easton was probably a little stronger than us and a little faster than us, but we refused to back down. Our defense and our goalie were incredible during the 80 minutes of regulation. But Easton was the best team we faced this year, and its pressure finally produced a goal in overtime.”

Both teams entered the game with outstanding records during a hybrid COVID-19 impacted season. The Bears posted seven shutouts in their eight games, while Easton started with eight straight victories before dropping its last two contests of the regular season to Nazareth.

“It’s been a strange year,” said Easton coach Tim Hall. “With the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference only allowing divisional games, there was no way to gauge other teams. There were no non-league games, no crossover division games. You played a few teams twice each and that was it.

“So we didn’t know what to expect today. What we did know is that Pleasant Valley is always a physical, well-coached team - and we saw exactly that today. We had to work hard for this win.”

While the scoreless tie through regulation might suggest an evenly played contest, it was anything but that.

The Rovers (9-2) dominated possession, field position and scoring opportunities. But Pleasant Valley kept finding ways to keep them off the scoreboard.

The main reason for that was junior goalie Sam Merklin. Merklin turned in an incredible performance, making 15 saves - many of them spectacular in nature.

“Give their goalie a lot of credit,” said Hall. “I thought we had a lot of chances to score, but she made some great saves.”

Hyland added, “Sam was incredible today. She was all over the place. She was controlling the balls in the air, she was stopping shots on the ground, she was aggressively attacking their crosses and corners. She kept us in the game.”

Easton entered overtime with a 15-4 edge in shots, knowing that one mistake or one bad bounce could end its season.

“You’re always worried as a coach when you control play like we did, but don’t have anything to show for it,” said Hall. “We didn’t change anything or do anything differently heading into overtime.

“Usually you makes changes when you’re not happy with something, but I was pleased with everything except our finishing. We were finally able to do that in overtime. Lyndsay Geiger made a great play to win possession in their end and made a perfect cross to Erin (Vincent) who finished it off.”

SHOUT OUT ... Hyland had plenty of praise for her defense, which was under constant pressure from a talented and extremely quick Easton forward line all game. “I thought Alexa Weaver, Laura Babu, Rylee Robinson and Alexa Pridham were exceptional today,” said Hyland. “They were under constant pressure and kept battling and making plays.”

GREAT SEASON ... Pleasant Valley (7-2) entered the game having outscored its opponents 42-2 this season with seven shutouts.

PLAYING FOR SCHYLER ... The Bears dedicated the season to Schyler Herman, who would have been a senior on this year’s team. Herman was a varsity goalie her freshman year who died in 2018 after a yearlong battle with Leukemia. “As you could tell today, Schyler’s presence was always with this team - especially our seniors, said Hyland. “From our pregame introductions to our postgame tears, Schyler was always there. This was an extremely close team and an extremely close senior class, and Schyler’s memory was a big part of that.”