A perfectly placed shot sneaks by the team's goalie during one of Duchess Park Secondary School's Sr. Girls Soccer practice.

By Tommy Osborne

Duchess Park Soccer

Duchess Park Sr. Girls Soccer Team prepares for Provincials

May 26, 2025 | 4:47 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Duchess Park Secondary School Sr. Girls Soccer team is preparing for provincials. Coming off one of the school’s best seasons in recent memory, Duchess Park is hoping for a strong showing in Burnaby, where provincials will take place from Wednesday, May 28, to Friday, May 30.

“For league play, we won all our league games this year, undefeated. We went to a Vernon tournament, we won third place there. Our semifinal was a close 1-0 loss, so it was awesome to have some challenges down there,” Head Coach Carmen Murguly said.

As Duchess Park prepares for provincials, the team says the experience against other teams they could see again was a big help in knowing what to expect.

“I think the loss is a good thing for our team, just because that’s the kind of competition that we’ll have at provincials, so being able to face that earlier in the season was really great for us,” said Grade 12 soccer player Maddy Heal.

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“It’s getting us prepared, knowing what to expect, knowing what we have to work on, and growing from there,” added fellow Grade 12 player Chloe Witso.

Murguly credits the team’s success to their chemistry both on and off the field, noting there are eight grade 12 players on the team with years of experience playing together. That experience, combined with the knowledge of how to best work together, has helped the team enjoy one of their most dominant seasons in recent memory.

“Our team has really just come together really well this year. Even from the start of the season, we really were able to meld together really well, and we’ve become close as a group and it reflects in our playing on the field,” Heal said.

“I think it’s really important if we’re having fun on and off the field. We’re just going to keep wanting to do it, keep wanting to grow together, and push each other to be our best,” Witso added.

Off-field chemistry is great, but it takes a lot more than just that to enjoy the type of dominance Duchess Park has, and Murguly says this is because the team is also exceptional when it comes to understanding the sport and adapting to certain situations and opponents.

“They are very high with their knowledge of soccer, how the game is played. We can change formations and they don’t have any problems, understanding on a dime what we want,” Murguly said.

Provincials will be a different beast though, and Murguly says it will take an incredibly coordinated and sharp effort to beat some of the strongest teams in the province.

“Defensively, we have to work as a core, not let anything through, and our defense just has to clear the ball and get it up as soon as they can. No playing around with it, they won’t have time. When we play the teams from down on the coast or Vancouver Island, it will be a very fast paced game. There’s no time to make mistakes,” Murguly said.

Last year the team placed 12th in provincials, and Murguly says the goal this year is anywhere within the top eight, although the team of course will be pushing as hard as they can to return with a medal.

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