Castle's Danielle Chang and Moanalua's Kaylee Sumida battle for a ball in last season's regular season meeting between the two teams. Leighland Tagawa | SL

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A couple of familiar foes will take to the pitch this weekend with first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Eastern Division at stake.

Unbeatens Moanalua and Castle bring identical 6-0 records and share the top spot in the Division I East standings entering Saturday's showdown.

Kickoff between Na Menehune, No. 5 in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Girls Soccer Power Rankings, and the seventh-ranked Knights is scheduled for approximately 1:30 p.m.

The match was originally scheduled to serve as the first home game for Moanalua in three seasons, but construction work on a new track surface has put that on hold. Instead the game will take place at Castle.

That's just fine by Knights coach Millie Dydasco.

"I think it's a benefit for any team, only because you're playing within your comfort area. They know it, they know it well, so playing at home is huge for us and our girls love playing at home where they're not outside their comfort zone," Dydasco said.

"Put them at Moanalua's site and they've got to take that into consideration and overcome that as well, so I think it's to our benefit and an advantage for our team."

For Na Menehune, however, playing the role of road warriors is nothing new.

"This is the third straight season that we've been practicing at a district park," Moanalua coach Nikki Dela Pena said. "As far as going on the road and playing on turf fields, that's normal practice for our team already."

Dela Pena's squad will have had a layoff of 17 days since playing its last game — a 3-1 win over Kaiser that also served as its closest margin of victory this season.

Despite the length layoff, practices over winter break have been fruitful, Dela Pena said.

"We've allowed the girls to make sure family comes first during the break and they also had finals the last week before the holidays, so it's allowed us to make sure they do what they need to do and get a break in, but we also make sure they understood that they're in a timeframe that when they do return, I do need them ready and focused," Dela Pena said.

The remaining schedule for Moanalua includes Kalani (4-2-1), Kahuku (4-1-1) and Roosevelt (4-2).

"We started off the season by playing all the D2 schools, so the importance in practice has been in maintaing our pace and our focus and intensity," said Dela Pena, whose team has not trailed in a game at any point this season.

Scoring has come with ease for Na Menehune, who have netted 41 goals in five games (a forfeit win over Kaimuki notwithstanding) and allowed just two all season by the opposition.

"Moanalua has some very good players, they are well-coached and we're very familiar with them," Dydasco said. "They've got hustle, they've got physicality, they've got players that understand the game, so we're well-aware of that and we know they're a very good team and we respect that in them."

The teams played twice last season. Moanalua came away with a 4-1 win in the regular-season meeting, but Castle claimed a 2-0 victory in the third-place game of the OIA tournament.

Like Na Menehune, the Knights haven't lost their drive over the winter intersession.

"Because of who we played — Kaiser, Kahuku and Moanalua — we knew we had to maintain our focus in our practices and our intensity because of that schedule," Dydasco said.

Castle's biggest win this season was a 3-2 win over Kaiser on Dec. 23.

"We had to come back from a 2-0 deficit and any time you can come back and win is a good thing, so that was a pivotal game for us. We executed when we needed to execute on plays and it was a very close game all the way to the last minute. We really needed everyone to buckle down and fight to the end. That game was big in terms of seeing what our team is made of," Dydasco said.

The Knights have outscored opponents a combined 23 to 5 on the season.

"We definitely know they can score, so we just have to be mindful of not only their main threats, but because they're well-coached, anybody on that team can put a ball in at any time," Dela Pena said. "We understand what they have as a team, but we also understand that it always comes back to our team. It's our responsibility to minimize their opportunities on offense and it's also our responsibility to make sure we capitalize on our opportunities when we're on offense."

The game will feature two of the league's top goal scorers in Moanalua junior midfielder Kelci Sumida, whose 10 goals ranks second in the OIA, and Castle senior forward/midfielder Ciana Rivera, who has scored seven goals (tied for fifth).

Rivera, the reigning OIA East Player of the Year, was a First Team All-Hawaii selection last year.

Sumida was named to the second team.