Parkland girls soccer head coach Al Haddad and Nazareth skipper Ziggy Lewis are great friends, and Lewis refers to Haddad as a mentor and a brother.

But when they’re coaching against one another the friendship is sort of suspended until after the game.

It was that way when Parkland beat Nazareth for the East Penn Conference championship a couple of weeks ago, and it was that way Saturday when Nazareth pulled off a 1-0 win in the District 11 championship at Salisbury High School.

The win was the first district championship in 15 years for Nazareth, and it came at the right time to give Lewis a bit of a pick-me-up. His family in Jamaica has been affected by Hurricane Melissa and during a phone call earlier in the day, his mom told him that a win was just what he could do to put a smile on her face.

With just under 24 minutes left in regulation, Nazareth had what seemed like a routine throw-in in Parkland territory. Sophomore Vera Ayala got the ball to senior Bella Danise in good shape for Danise to turn and put a put a solid foot on the ball to send it to the back of the net for the only goal in the game.

Parkland went all out and put added pressure on goalie Emma Houchin, but the senior goalkeeper was up to the task. Houchin came up with four acrobatic saves in the last 20 minutes of the game to prevent Parkland from knotting up the score.

“We gave everything up to try to get the equalizer, but it just wasn’t our day,” Haddad said after handing out silver medals to his team. “Hat’s off to them. I love them. I love Nazareth’s coach and the program. I’m just so happy for them.”

Both teams earned spots in states, but Nazareth received the added gift of playing its first round game on its home turf while Parkland had to hit the road with a trip to Lower Merion Township to face Archbishop Carroll. Meanwhile, Nazareth hosted to Lower Merion in Tuesday’s first round of the state playoffs.

Parkland (19-5-1) finished the season with its fourth EPC championship in the last five years and 12th under Haddad’s leadership.