Normally the San Pedro and Port Of Los Angeles High girls soccer teams are looking to better themselves early in the season by taking on challenging teams.

Here in only their respective second games of the 2014-2015 season, the Pirates and Polar Bears decided to better themselves by taking on each other for the first time ever, which set up a rare crosstown showdown between two CIF-Los Angeles City Section schools who have established their own traditions in a talent-rich sport.

It couldn't get more evenly matched for 70 minutes until host San Pedro finally emerged with two goals in the final ten minutes to hold off POLA, 2-0 at the John M. & Muriel Olguin Campus, which hosted the game that originally was scheduled to play at the San Pedro Field Of Dreams before the two days of rain forced the move to the all-weather turf field at the Olguin Campus.

"I'm very proud of the tenacity our girls showed today," San Pedro girls soccer coach Elisa Nagle said. "They fought hard for the win and I think that's a great way to start the season."

Certainly, considering the Pirates last year started off 0-6-1 before getting their first victory and went into Marine League play with a 1-8-1 mark. San Pedro (1-0-1) went on to claim their ninth straight league championship.

POLA (1-1) wasn't backing down from San Pedro by any means, as the Pirates outshot the Polar Bears, 9-2 in the first half but only managed to go into the break scoreless. In fact, the Polar Bears nearly scored first in the 62nd minute when freshman forward Brianna Mancilla's free kick sailed to the left of the net. Sophomore midfielder Alyssa Medrano had a similar try in the 19th minute that was off to the right.

San Pedro had three close calls not go their way, including a point-blank shot from junior midfielder Ashley Lopez in the 48th minute, and another shot from junior midfielder Rianni Gonzales that hit the left of the post seven minutes later.

Finally the Pirates would strike in the 71st minute when Lopez's corner kick was perfectly timed for a header by sophomore forward Ryann Lozano, who headed it in just by POLA junior goalie Emily Haugen for a 1-0 San Pedro advantage. "I'm so proud of Ryann for scoring off that corner kick," Lopez said. "We couldn't have scored at a better time, even though it was late in the game."

The Pirates had to survive POLA's first and only real threat to even the score, when senior midfielder Tiffany Torres had a clear shot at junior goalie Taylor Miller, but was denied by a clean slide on the wet turf by junior defender Lauren Antonelos which interrupted Torres' momentum as she appeared to either cross pass or shoot.

Still in the final minute of the game, San Pedro added the exclamation point with Gonzales blasting a great set-up for junior forward Heather Carlton, who somehow avoided a hard-charging Haugen and tapped in one while avoiding POLA junior defender Daisy Garcia for the goal that sealed the deal.

"Both goals were great build-ups for us," San Pedro junior defender Gabriella Ma said. "Our main problem we have is putting those shots away early and hopefully we can work on that."

The last goal meant a little extra for Carlton, who missed all but the last two games of last year.

"All I was thinking was that I really need to make this goal to secure our win," Carlton said. "This feels amazing. Not being able to play last year because of my injury was the worst. It's nice to help my team out again."

Even in defeat, POLA showed plenty of moxie and poise knowing this game will only serve as a motivating factor as they pursue that elusive CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division III title.

"We put in a lot of work and really gave it our all the whole game," POLA senior defender Samantha Walker said. "This game allows us to see what we need to improve on so that by playoffs we are stronger and more prepared."

Lopez was impressed by POLA's toughness.

"POLA played very well," Lopez said. "They are a very tough team and I hope we can have another opportunity to play against them in the future."

Miller had three saves for San Pedro, all in the second half, while freshman goalie Carlene Luna only needed to make two saves to combine for the shutout. The Pirates were coming off a 1-1 tie with Birmingham of Lake Balboa earlier in the week, while the Polar Bears were coming off a 2-1 victory over St. Monica of Santa Monica.

"I thought our toughness throughout this game was great," said Haugen, who had nine saves for POLA. "We never stopped fighting."

POLA will get another crosstown showdown on Friday when they battle against Mary Star at Harbor College, while San Pedro opens off the South Torrance Holiday Tournament, also on Friday, against powerhouse Palos Verdes who last year dealt the Pirates their worst loss of last season.