The last time the College Heights Cougars captured a girls soccer zone title, their coaches were on the team.
Sydney Hall and her twin sister Jordan were seniors with the Cougars in 2011 when they claimed the north central double-A girls soccer championship. Monday afternoon, College Heights won the banner with a 2-1 victory against the rival Duchess Park Condors. Sydney (a forward) and Jordan (a goalkeeper) are now key players with UNBC's women's soccer side, but have returned to the Cougars sideline as coaches.
Prior to Monday's win, the Cougars had lost three consecutive zone championships to the Condors, including a 2-0 loss in 2014.
"The girls played so well - they were composed and took it to the next level," said Sydney. "We have eight Grade 12s this year. For this team, it was a long time coming for them."
Striker Maddie Doucette gave College Heights a 1-0 lead in the first half when she accepted a pass from Emily Haley, took one touch and pushed into the corner past Duchess Park goal keeper Riley Brennan.
Serena Khatrao scored the Cougars' second goal on a corner kick early in the second half. College Heights kept pushing to score the third goal, but the Condors responded with four minutes left in the game on a goal from Maddie Landry.
Cougars goalkeeper Sian Steindl earned the win in net.
Doucette won the Golden Boot trophy as the two-day tournament's top goal scorer, tallying 10 goals in three games.
"It's always very tough to play them (the Condors)," said Doucette. "It's really exciting to come out and play them. It was a close game and we both fought hard. I'm proud of how our team played. We stuck together and stayed positive. With our main group of girls, we have so much chemistry."
The north central double-A zone tournament began Sunday with six teams divided into two round-robin pools.
The Condors, the top-ranked team in Pool A, defeated Kelly Road 6-1 and Nechako Valley 5-1 in their round-robin to advance to the cross-over game where they shut out D.P. Todd 3-0.
In Pool B, the Cougars earned a 4-1 win against D.P. Todd and an 8-0 shutout against Peter Skeene Ogden from 100 Mile House. They defeated Nechako Valley 9-2 in the cross-over to advance to the final.
Brennan was named the tournament's top goalkeeper.
"We gave it our best," said Condors coach Carmen Murguly, whose squad features eight seniors. "We both have very strong players and they were on top of us. They wanted it more and controlled the game. I'm just glad they didn't give up. We had a harder semifinal and some girls went down with heat stroke. Riley made some spectacular saves in that game and she was under fire again in the final. It was so hot, and it definitely made a difference."
D.P. Todd won the bronze medal with a 7-2 victory against Nechako Valley.
Kelly Road was named the most sportsmanlike team, playing three straight games short-handed.
The Cougars now advance to the B.C. high school double-A championship in Vancouver, May 28-30. That weekend coincides with College Heights graduation ceremonies. With eight seniors on the team, they have to decide by Thursday whether they will travel to the Lower Mainland.
If they choose to decline the berth, the Condors would get the north-central spot.
