However, the Cougars opened decisively in the first minute when Blair found Kate open with a scoring opportunity - Kate rarely needs an invitation to score!

This made her a marked woman for the rest of the match - Carmel saw how dangerous she was, and looked to shut her down - but what do they say about a good woman? (More later!)

It took another 19 minutes for Blair to find the net from 25 yards out off a cross from Jackie on the left wing. Six minutes later Daniela, just subbed in, combined with Kate to make it 3-0.

Carmel was not giving in and went aggressively for every ball. (Perhaps too aggressively at times!) A communication error and failed clearance gave Carmel one of their few opportunities on the Cougar goal to make it 3 - 1 in the 33rd minute.

The Cougars took this in their stride and put sustained pressure on the Carmel goal. In the 30th minute, Kate had possession of the ball in the Carmel penalty area, but was tackled hard from behind (HEY! even in the professional game, a tackle from behind is a foul, usually a yellow card!). She went down in considerable pain, with the ref calling play on! Only when she was not getting up did the ref stop play and come to her assistance. She needed to come off and have her injury iced. The Cougars replied decisively in the 36th minute when Sarah Luksik headed in a cross from Daniela. In the last minute of the first half, Vita was knocked (to put it mildly) to the ground (the ref claims he didn't see it) - hitting her head hard enough to be thoroughly dazed for at least five minutes. A concussion was a possibility! (There are hard tackles, and there are reckless and dangerous tackles!)

Despite the late first half assaults, the Cougars promptly settled into controlling the second half. As William Congreve once said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned..", and Kate was quickly back in the game finding one opportunity after another to drop her mark and threaten the Carmel goal. A total of 14 shots were launched against Carmel in the second half but it took until the 55th for Kate to combine with Daniela to put it in the net. In the 70th minute, Carmel attacked the Cougar goal. Laura went up to head the ball clear only to be hit in the head and knocked to the ground, with the ref stopping play. She wasn't seeing stars like Vita was in the first half, to to add insult to injury, the assistant ref claimed that Laura handled the ball, and the ref awarded a Penalty Kick to Carmel! Sarah Wright absorbed the shot - powerful but right at her, and (you might say) "Justice was served".

Again, the Cougars took this in their stride and immediately counter attacked with Kate scoring off another combination with Daniela to make it a definitive 6-1 win over Carmel.