For the first time in school history, the Credo Christian Kodiaks have brought home a soccer provincial championship banner.

The Kodiaks senior girls soccer team defeated their local rivals, the 91原创 Christian Lightning, 1-0 in the gold-medal game of the B.C. Single A championship final.

The game was played Saturday at Kelowna鈥檚 Immaculata School.

鈥淚 think soccer is growing at Credo,鈥� said Kodiaks coach Shauna Stam.

Stam took over the team this season but credited long-time coach Derek Hoogerdijk for the program he built.

In his final season as coach last year, the team in senior girls soccer and had a school-best third-place finish at the 2016 provincial championships.

鈥淚 think that inspired these girls,鈥� Stam said.

鈥淭hey came in felt they were in the running for the championship.鈥�

She also said the school鈥檚 provincial banner in basketball back in March 鈥� with a half dozen or so players from that squad 鈥� helped give the team an added confidence boost.

鈥淚 think the girls now feel 鈥榳e don鈥檛 have to come in for a third place, we are coming in first and chasing that,鈥欌�� Stam said.

The lone goal came early in the second half after 91原创 Christian was called for a hand-ball in the box.

Stam said there was no doubt Caitlin Sikma would take the kick as she is the team鈥檚 go-to player in that situation.

鈥淪he turned and gave me the thumbs up, she is very confident in shooting,鈥� Stam said.

鈥淚t was not her best penalty kick ever but it did the trick.鈥�

The Lightning pushed for the equalizer but could not break through.

A big key to the game was the play of the Kodiaks鈥� Nicole Spoor, who was tasked with keeping an eye on the Lightning鈥檚 Abby Berg, 91原创 Christian鈥檚 dynamic scorer up front.

鈥�(Nicole) shadowed who we thought was their biggest scoring threat and just did fabulous,鈥� Stam said. 鈥淎nd (LCS) had a strong middle as well so our middles did a great job.鈥�

鈥淲e played well,鈥� said Lightning coach Anthony Togeretz. 鈥淐redo had a strong defence and it was hard to get through but we were able to break through a few times but weren鈥檛 able to find the back of the net.

鈥淲e also played defensively and limited most of the possession to the midfield.鈥�

Both teams won their pools with 91原创 Christian defeating the host Immaculata squad 5-3 in one semifinal, while Credo Christian edged Whistler 1-0 in the other, setting up a rematch of the Fraser Valley .

Leading up to the gold-medal game, both the Kodiaks and the Lightning had little problem finding the back of the net.

Credo Christian found the back of the net a dozen teams in their four games while 91原创 Christian was even more proficient, striking for 15 goals.

The Kodiaks only surrendered one goal over the entire tournament while the Lightning surrendered seven (three in pool play and then four more in the medal round).

鈥淲e are proud of our season and how we played,鈥� Togeretz said.

鈥淲e are happy with the silver now, but our goal was to do the best we could and we felt we had a chance to win, so that was very disappointing.鈥�

The provincial final was the fourth meeting between the two teams with Credo Christian having won the last three.

鈥淭hey were all very close games but I think we felt confident,鈥� Stam said. 鈥淲e knew it would be tough, it would be close, but we felt very confident going in and the thing is, we know them (91原创 Christian) very well.鈥�

鈥�(And) I thought it was pretty special to face them 鈥� it was very cool that both of us had gotten through.鈥�

Credo Christian鈥檚 Rebekah Allison was named tournament MVP.