The high school rivalry between the Duchess Park Condors and College Heights Cougars senior girls soccer sides has been played out on the pitch for the last two to three years.
On Monday afternoon, a lone goal by outside midfielder Emily Holmes in the first half held up as the winner as the Condors shut out the Cougars 1-0 in round-robin action at the north central zone double-A playdown at Rotary Field.
"We won zones last year and we want that zone banner again this season," said Condors head coach Carmen Murguly. "We'd like to be in the [zone] final again this season."
Besides the Condors and Cougars, the north central zone playdown, which began Monday, features the D.P. Todd Trojans and Vanderhoof's Nechako Valley Viqueens.
"Our expectations are that we want to win zones," said Cougars coach Sydney Hall, who shares the coaching duties with her sister Jordan. "We've had this core group of girls since Grade 8 and 9 and obviously they know a lot of the players on Duchess Park.
"We told them to compete the best you can. I felt we played really well but they [the Condors] pulled through and won."
After dueling each other on the indoor soccer pitch all winter (each side played nine or 10 matches), Monday was the first time all four sides had played outside.
The Cougars have only two Grade 12s while the majority of the squad is comprised of mostly Grade 10 and 11 players.
The Condors feature seven Grade 12s, seven Grade 11s and the remainder are Grade 8 and 9 players.
"We have 21 players on the team and that's quite a few but we're building for the next couple years," said Murguly.
The Condors opened the tournament Monday morning with a 6-0 win over the Trojans and now sit with a record of 2-0, while the Cougars defeated Nechako Valley 9-0 to sport a 1-1 record.
The Trojans are also 1-1 after beating Nechako Valley 5-1 Monday afternoon.
The round-robin concludes this morning at 9 when the Cougars battle the Trojans and Duchess Park takes on Nechako Valley.
The first- and second-place sides advance to the final today at 12:30 p.m.
The third- and fourth-place teams will play for the bronze medal, also at 12:30 p.m.
The zone winner advances to the double-A provincials in Penticton, May 29-31.
