| We took the chance that the weather was going to give us an afternoon respite, and it paid off. The field still had a few puddles and was generally saturated from a long heavy lunchtime shower, but definitely playable! Boots and socks were soaked through in seconds, and the soft ground made it a physically demanding game. The ball is always harder to control when wet, but the Cougars made it look easy! Within the first minute, Daniela was knocking on the King City goal, but it took 17 minutes before she found the net off of a ball from Blair. Sustained Cougar pressure rewarded us with another opportunity when we earned a corner kick in the 21st minute. April sent in a beautiful ball that Blair headed perfectly into the net! The pressure continued throughout the first half, frustrating King City and making it difficult for them work effectively as a team, but the score remained 2-0 until the half-time whistle. King City was playing 3 forwards up all the time, positioning themselves across the full width of the field, forcing the Cougar backs to spread out. Theoretically, a through ball from their midfield could create a 1 v 1 situation and a race to the goal. However, our midfield looked to deny most of the penetrating balls, and our backs were focused and fast enough to thwart any of the few chances King City did develop. The Cougars opened strongly in the second half with Kate hungry for a goal. 2 minutes in she sent in a great shot to the far post, but a fantastic save from the KC keeper kept her off the scoreboard. Kate had a few opportunities, but was so heavily marked that the scoring opportunities were going to others today - King City couldn't cover everyone! The 53rd minute saw goal number 3, when Jackie drove in a loose ball that KC just could not clear with all the Cougar pressure. King City refused to give up, rallying strongly. Within a space of 5 minutes they had three corner kicks on the Cougar goal. Solid defending from our backs and midfield, combined with aggressive goalkeeping from Sarah Wright denied KC any reward for their hard work. The Cougars regrouped and took the game back to the King City goal. In the 70th minute, Cougar pressure forced a back pass to the goalkeeper to be handled, and gave us an indirect freekick 16 yards from the goalline. Despite a solid King City wall breaking hard to the ball, Blair's touch on the ball followed immediately with a driven shot from April saw the Cougars go to 4-0. An exciting and hard fought game, followed by celebratory diving slides into the mud and the dirtiest, but happiest team we've seen in while! |