The North Central Zone Soccer Championships are underway in the lakecity, and both Williams Lake high schools are in the hunt for a lone provincial championship berth.
Today, starting at 9 a.m., semi-final matchups take place. One semi goes at Columneetza secondary, while the other will be held at Williams Lake secondary.
The Williams Lake Thunder guaranteed their spot in one of the two semi-finals after beating the Columneetza junior boys Sunday, 3-0, and Burns Lake Monday, 4-0.
Scoring for the Thunder were Aidan Duggan, T.J. Mills and Kristof Somer, with two goals.
Thunder coach George Fraser said he’s pleased with the way his team has played so far in the tournament.
“Things are going excellent,” Fraser said. “We are showing excellent ball control, our communication is there and our teamwork is phenomenal.”
Their opponent for this morning’s semi-final was yet to be determined by press deadline.
The Columneetza Cougars, for their part, needed a win during a game against College Heights scheduled for Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. to reach the semis.
The Cougars opened their tournament Sunday to a 3-1 loss against the Duchess Park Condors, before beating Quesnel Junior secondary 6-0 Monday.
Scoring Monday for the Cougars were Carlos Nunez (2), Benno Durfeld, Conlan Sprickerhoff and Mitch Wiebe.
Cougars coach Rob Tazelaar said his club was hopeful of coming out of Monday afternoon’s game with a win and advancing to the semis.
“If we play like we can play we’re fine,” Tazelaar said. “When they try to get too pretty bad things happen, but when they bear down and play life is pretty for them.”
Following Tuesday morning’s semi-final matchups the tournament’s gold medal and bronze medal matches will be played.
The gold-medal game goes at 1 p.m. at Columneetza secondary, while the bronze-medal game starts at the same time at WLSS.