BERWYN — Two of the best girls soccer programs in the Central League renewed acquaintances on a chilly, breezy Thursday evening and if you got to Teamer Field late, you missed early fireworks.

Dylan Steinberg’s goal just minutes into the first half stood up as the Aces posted a 1-0 victory.

“We started off strong,” said Lower Merion coach Kevin Ries. “It’s soccer, some days you do, some you don’t. This was just one of those nights we connected passes. It was great to watch.”

Barely 30 seconds into the game, the Aces (9-1-1 Central, 14-2-1 overall), received a quality chance. Junior Harper Gust intercepted a pass from a Conestoga defender that turned into a shot that goalie Emily Klaiber parried into the air before corralling it.

The danger for Conestoga was just beginning, nearly two minutes in, Steinberg was on the left edge of the penalty box at an angle. Instead of a cross, she shot and it found a home inside the right post for a 1-0 lead.

“We really wanted to come out strong because in states last year, we lost to ‘Stoga, so this was our revenge,” Steinberg said.

“It’s always discouraging when you go down within the first five minutes of a game,” said

Conestoga coach Deane Mariotti. “I was proud of the way the girls lifted and came back and played the second half.”

A short time later, Steinberg nearly doubled the lead from the same spot, but her shot instead found the arms of Kleiber.

“It was unfortunate, I got under it a little too much,” added Steinberg. “We played really well. We held the 1-0 and that’s hard to do. We did a great job. This was our best game of the season, for sure.”

The Aces kept control of the first 40 minutes, outshooting the Pioneers, 9-2. All of Conestoga’s six efforts on the evening came from distance as Lower Merion’s back line didn’t allow anything inside the penalty area in front of goalie Cate Cantu.

“I’ve got a mix of old and young on the backline,” said Ries. “The new girls have really stepped up and played hard. (Freshman) Sofie Jackson has played great. Lilly Barabee was awesome along with Kendall Baker. They were great in the back and stymied a lot of what they were trying to do.”

Conestoga (8-3, 10-6-1) did have more of the possession in the second half as both team’s defenses took the spotlight. There were only seven combined shots and none of them were on target to force the goalies into a save.

The Pioneers did have a couple of good looks at the top of the box. Ryann Jennings had a shot that didn’t miss the top corner by much.

“Second half was much better than the first,” said Mariotti. “The girls recognized where the spaces on the field were and did a nice job on how to figure out and exploit those spaces in the second half.”

Lower Merion, ranked fifth in the District 1 Class 4A rankings, posted its third straight 1-0 victory to close out the regular season and its sixth consecutive clean sheet. They have allowed two or more goals in a game just twice in 17 contests.

“This win gives us so much confidence because ‘Stoga historically is such a great program,” said Steinberg. “But we can’t let the confidence get to us.”

The Pioneers are 11th as the playoffs near.

“We are actually going to spend (Friday’s) practice reflecting on the season,” Mariotti said. “I think the girls have worked really hard and I think that they have been thoughtful about the areas where they have grown in and pushed themselves. I think we’ve had a couple of unlucky games that could have gone either way. We took some good teams into overtime situations. So, I think they’ve had a lot of great experiences over the course of the first 17 games of the regular season that they can rely on going into the playoffs.”

Lower Merion 1, Conestoga 0Lower Merion 1 0 — 1Conestoga 0 0 — 0Lower Merion goal: Steinberg.Goalie saves: Cantu (LM) 3; Klaiber (C) 5.