The championship game saw Blue Lightning take on Maestros FC.  Blue Lightning had the edge in the season series, with 2 wins and a draw out of 4 head-to-head matches.  The Bolts got past The Black Team and then Whitewalkers while Maestros dispatched both OTPP Utd and the Bad Apples.

The game kicked off in front of a partisan crowd who threw their support behind the Maestros.  The “home” team did not disappoint and scored first, on a tricky shot from distance that was redirected by Bob Tian past Kevin Bonner.  With the crowd behind them, their confidence grew and the Maestros soon scored another.  This time it was Haddi Alnahlawi who scored after a scramble in front of the net.  Led by their 2 coop students, Maestros were on Cloud 9!  Blue Lightning were left scratching their heads after being down by 2, despite their heavy edge in ball possession.  They needed to get one back quickly and that’s what they did.  A shot from distance was saved by Murat Cokgezen but the ball fell to Derek Chan, who cut the deficit in half going into the break.

The second half started with intense pressure from Blue Lightning.  Murat was on his toes and kept denying the Bolts.  The break-through came mid-way through the half with a well executed attack.  Scott Kamins received the pass inside the Maestros half to the right of the keeper.  He played a square ball to Dale Scarlett who one-touched the ball to the on-running Ivan Gojmerac who hit it first time and beat the keeper to the bottom left corner.  The last 15 minutes of the game were intense but cautious, as neither team wanted to make a mistake.

For the second year in a row, a penalty shoot-out was needed to decide the Championship.  There were some great shots and some great saves and it was still tied after 3 penalties each.  In sudden-death, Kevin stopped the Maestros and then Julio Araujo stepped up and powered in the winner.  The 2015/16 OTPP Champions League winners are Blue Lightning!

Thanks to everyone for another successful season and see you all in 2016/17!