The Cougars were more relaxed despite the fact that Kate, Laura, April and Vita were still suffering from the ‘flu, and Sarah Wright and Danielle looked like it was about to hit them. Dixie was still injured. Legs were still tired from the heavy mud at Wednesday’s game. This looked to be a tough game, and the ball was going to have to do a lot of the work for us today!

The Cougars won the coin toss, and elected to kick-off first. They immediately took the game to Stevenson, threatening their goal in the first minute! Then a free kick in the 3rd minute, another in the 4th - the ball going just over the bar from April’s 35 yard shot!

Back and forth it went, with a couple of long probing shots from Stevenson being easily dealt with by Sarah Wright. Quick counter attacks from the Cougars kept the ball mostly in the Stevenson half. In the 11th minute we won a corner kick. April sent it into the melee and Blair(?) directed it past the goalie only to have a defender handle the ball, denying the goal! A PK was awarded. (Typically “denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity” is an automatic red card, but the referee was generous and kept his card in his pocket). Kate coolly setup to take the PK, and placed an accurate shot into the lower left corner to beat the ‘keeper and make it 1-0!

The Cougars settled into controlling much of the first half, keeping calm despite the size, strength and speed of the Stevenson players. Several scoring opportunities presented themselves, including a hard shot from April in the 24th minute, that the ‘keeper could not hold onto. A desperate effort from a Stevenson defender kept it out the goal! Stevenson rallied strongly in the dying minutes of the half, but Sarah Wright denied their one real chance. The Cougar back four, consisting of Sarah Luksik, Kaitlin, Laura and Isabelle, showed tremendous discipline and concentration to maintain good defensive shape, work well with our midfield, and effectively deny Stevenson.

Stevenson had the kick-off for the second half, but were promptly dispossessed, and immediately had the Cougars at their goal! We earned a corner kick, and April set up to take it. Typically it’s into the penalty area, often with Blair (and her height) as the target, but this time April played it back to Isabelle, who was pushing up in support (as any attacking back should) and was completely unmarked! Isabelle calmly took control of the ball, side stepped an on-rushing Stevenson defender, then accurately and deliberately sent it to far post corner for goal number 2! What a great goal!

Stevenson restarted, but were quickly dispossessed again! Kaitlin sent a perfect through ball to Daniela, who coolly placed it in the back of the net!

There were still 36 minutes left in this game, and as good as 3-0 looked, there was still a lot of work to do. Stevenson regrouped and began to rally. They fought hard and aggressively for the 50/50 balls, gaining an edge in possession. They began to launch long balls from the midfield, hoping their forwards could use their edge in speed to gain a shot on the Cougar goal. With Sarah Wright’s skill in coming quickly off her line, combined with good defensive support, the Cougars seemed to be absorbing the pressure. In the 51st minute, a Stevenson forward made it through and charged the Cougar goal. Fearless as usual, Sarah came off her line, diving at the feet on the Stevenson player to snatch the ball away. Over committed, the Stevenson player crashed in to Sarah, and went down hard. Her leg was injured, and she needed to come off. This seemed to fire up the Stevenson players to a whole new level of intensity, and they used their size advantage to muscle the Cougars off the ball. They maintained their “kick and run” tactic, which we seemed able to deal with. In the 61st minute, an opportunity opened up for Stevenson - we lost possession in the midfield with most of the backs pushed up, and a quick long ball found Sarah Luksik and Sarah Wright dealing with 2 Stevenson attackers. The ball was knocked loose with Sarah off her line, and Stevenson finally found the back of the Cougar net.

The Cougars restarted looking to regain control, with the game going end to end. A freekick from April in the 65th minute almost found the net, but minutes later, Stevenson countered, bouncing a shot off our crossbar! That seemed their last real effort, and for the last 10 minutes of the game, Isabelle, Sarah Luksik, Danielle, Blair and April all had opportunities to score, but were denied by Stevenson pulling numbers back in defense.

A very hard fought game – typical of the usual battle between Santa Catalina and Stevenson – but a well deserved win for the Cougars!