Whenever San Pedro High girls soccer steps into a game against Marine League rival Narbonne of Harbor City, it's never a peaceful easy feeling.

Still, the Pirates somehow find a way to side step even the toughest challenge from the Gauchos year in and year out, and their first meeting of 2015-2016 was no different from previous battles. However on Wednesday, San Pedro brought a little more extra to the table and scored at the most opportune of times.

In a battle for sole possession of first place in the league standings, San Pedro would hold nothing back, nor would they concede anything as they defeated visiting Narbonne, 3-0 as they solidify their claim to an 11th straight Marine League crown. Tough defense and timely goals by midfielders senior Rianni Gonzales and juniors Ryann Lozano and Sydney Engel was enough to stave off the Gauchos' charge.

Don't expect San Pedro (11-2-2 overall, 3-0-0 league), winners of nine straight games, to ease up any time soon.

"Even though beating Narbonne early relieved pressure for our league title, we will still go into all our future matches strong and not second guess any of our opponents," San Pedro co-coach Chatelaine Ansaldi said. "We have and always will hold the target on our backs but we take every team one step at a time. Now that we know the style of play in which Narbonne does and does not play is beneficial to ourselves."

It didn't take San Pedro long to strike, as Lozano put in a perfect header past Narbonne senior goalie Brittney Plunkett off a perfect throw-in from freshman midfielder Samantha Martinez four minutes into the game for a 1-0 San Pedro lead, and Lozano's 15th goal of the year.

"Narbonne is a great competitor and I felt it was really important to get the lead right away and build our motivation further the rest of the way," Lozano said.

San Pedro had several chances to break it open in the first half as Lozano, Martinez and senior midfielder Heather Carlton missed on wide open point blank shots, and junior midfielder Maddie Villela had two free kicks just go wide of the net. Narbonne (5-5-1, 2-1-0) had a couple of first half scoring chances go awry, and sophomore goalie Carlene Luna saved two shots.

In the 27th minute, a crucial mistake by a Narbonne defender after Carlton lured Plunkett towards her close to the net allowed Gonzales to pick up the pieces and tap in the loose ball for a 2-0 Pirate advantage.

"I was thinking Heather could have just made this goal on her own, but she was very generous to let me have this goal," Gonzales said with a smile. "I was also very excited to be up one more goal, then running back (for the faceoff) I was just thinking that the defensive line needs to be on their 'A game' to hold it down back there."

That's exactly what the Pirates did by the combined efforts of sophomore defender Angelina Camello, junior defender Maddy Luna and the senior trio of Paige Kielbasa, Lauren Antonelos and Kirra Mardesich, along with Carlene Luna patrolling the net to keep the dangerous Gaucho forwards off the scoreboard, especially during a physically intense second half where the two teams continued to jockey for position and no goals were scored for the next 52 minutes.

"I am so proud of our defense, including Carly," Lozano said. "It's a solid line back there and they all work extremely well together."

The final goal was served up by Engel, which she took a throw-in from Kielbasa, somehow blew by three defenders and fired just outside the box to the left corner of the net for the goal which came with approximately 22 seconds left before the final long whistle would blow into the night, signifying the end of San Pedro's huge victory and the perfect late gift for Engel's 17th birthday.

"Sydney put in a great left shot, and it couldn't have been any better," Lozano said.

Despite this victory, San Pedro knows full well that Narbonne will be ready for them when the Pirates visit Harbor City for the rematch on February 5 where the outright league title (a chance for a shared title in Narbonne's case) will most assuredly be hanging in the balance.

Still, just passing the first test was critical for the defending league champions.

"It was important for us to come out strong today," said Engel, alluding to last year's 1-1 tie and 1-0 victory over Narbonne in last year's two league wars. "Our scores with Narbonne has always been close in previous years."