Northwest Suburban supremacy was on the line Tuesday night, as No.2-3A Centennial and No. 5-2A Maple Grove, the only unbeaten teams in the conference, faced off against one another. As expected, it was a close affair where either team could’ve been the one to come away as the winner. The Crimson (10-1-1, 9-0-1) are the only team left without a conference loss, as they handed the Cougars (10-1-0, 9-1-0) their first loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat at their home field. 

“It’s a big one for us because we’ve had epic back-and-forth battles with Centennial over the past six, seven years, so it’s always going to be like this,” Maple Grove coach Ben LeVahn said. “We got a few games left before we get into sections, so that was big for us to play well against a really good team.” 

The good team performance was capped off by a goal apiece for the Crimson’s dynamic striker partnership of Quinn Omar and Lauren Zimmerman. 

In a battle between the two top teams in the Northwest Suburban conference, No. 5-3A Maple Grove came away with a vital conference win on the road against No. 2-3A Centennial on Tuesday night. 

The Crimson (10-1-1, 9-0-1) found the back of the net first, as Quinn Omar found herself at the end of an errant ball that played her toward goal. She took a touch and then slotted a shot from 

outside the box into the bottom left corner of the net, just past the outstretched gloves of Centennial goalkeeper Jordan Metz. 

The Cougars (10-1-0, 9-1-0) increased their attack after conceding, upping their shot total and having a few dangerous chances from set pieces, but they were unable to find the back of the net before halftime. 

They didn’t take long to equalize after halftime, as Addison Van Zee scored less than three minutes into the second half. Marisa Frost finished a long run down the left flank with a pinpoint cross that Van Zee volleyed in from point-blank range to level the score at 1-1. Both teams created decent chances from there, as Metz finished with three saves and Ingrid Kautzman made seven for Maple Grove. 

The breakthrough came when Lauren Zimmerman scored the winning goal for the Crimson with just over five minutes remaining in regulation. Her defender had a step on her in a race toward a loose ball, but Zimmerman’s pace was too much to handle and she got there first and scored the winning goal.