The Cougars took the poor field in stride and were quickly dominating the game. Both Kate and Daniela were threatening the Carmel goal in the first 20 minutes with a total of four shots. Carmel did manage a good counter attack in the 21st minute, getting off a shot, but sending it wide.

The Cougars replied with Blair finding Daniela free of her marks in the 23rd minute to open the scoring. The rest of the first half saw mostly Cougar possession, but few solid chances on the Carmel goal. The refereeing seemed a little lax at times, especially with Daniela getting hit in the face and Carmel being given the free-kick, and again when Blair was denied a goal off of Isabelle’s free-kick because the assistant ref thought she was off-side. The entire Cougar fan base was quite vocal about the quality of the call!

The Cougars kicked off the second half with both the sun and wind at their backs. Daniela had a great chance in the 44th, but it was a couple of minutes later when Kate sent in a corner kick, Daniela got a touch, a defender sent it up in the air, and Mika was able to head it in! Cougars up 2 – 0!

Carmel rallied again, getting off a shot in the 55th minute, but it was comfortably dealt with by Gen. The Cougars were soon at the Carmel goal again, with Kate continuing to rip off shots. Carmel was doing a good job of getting bodies back between the ball and the goal, but in the 67th minute Kate drew the pressure, dropped the ball back to Blair, who slotted it away to make it 3 – 0!

The Cougars kept the pressure on, with Gen only getting one more touch of the ball in the rest of the match. In the final minute, the Cougars won their 6th corner of the game. Kate sent the ball in hard to the near post with Kendra making the run. Unfortunately for Carmel, the ball deflected off one of their own players into the net!

Santa Catalina wins 4 – 0 and clinches another MTAL title!

GO COUGARS!