Cougars Rally in Mexico   11/25/09 -  After losing a late 4-1 lead against San Diego on Friday and losing 5-4 in overtime, the California Cougars were in danger of digging themselves a big hole early in the season.   Friday’s win and Saturday’s subsequent rout of the Las Vegas Knights, put the Sockers clearly on top of the Western Division with a 4-0 record.   The Cougars, who topped the Western Division last year, were 0-1 and trailing 3-0 to Revolucion Tijuana on Saturday.  A loss would drop them three games out of first.  Instead it was the Cougars overcoming a three goal deficit and turning it into a 6-4 win to square their record at 1-1.   Lightning Take Out Waza for First Win, Second Sellout   The expansion Louisville Lightning packed Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club for the second straight time and headed into the fourth quarter with a 5-2 lead for the second straight game.   After losing that lead in their opener, falling 6-5 to Cincinnati, the Lightning played a whole 60 minutes and closed out the Detroit Waza 8-3.   Other PASL-Pro League Action   1790 Cincinnati Express, behind a season-high four goals from Jeff Hughes and a Matt Breines hat trick, routed the rival Waza 11-3 at Game Time Training Center. Cincinnati, the defending Eastern Division champions improved to 2-0 and 15-3 lifetime in the regular season.  Detroit fell to 1-9 on the road going back to last season.   The Texas Outlaws got a deceptively easy 12-6 win over the Denver Dynamite. It wasn’t nearly that easy though, as the Outlaws led just 7-6 with 6 minutes left in the game.  Shaun David led Texas with two goals and five assists.   Joe Reiniger had two goals and an assist to lead the St. Louis Illusion to a season-opening 7-5 win over the Kansas City Kings.   KICK STARTERS - Conversations you should be having about the PASL-Pro   Brian Farber, California Cougars The reigning PASL-Pro MVP extended his point streak to 18 games with an assist in San Diego and a goal in Tijuana.  The Sockers, however, held him without a goal for only the second time in his PASL-Pro career.   Kraig Chiles, San Diego Sockers The former Chivas USA forward exploded for back-to-back hat tricks this weekend giving him a league-high eight goals. Chiles, who has his own website at www.kraigchiles.com, scored the opening goal, the tying goal, and the overtime game-winner against California. Safet Kovacevic, Louisville Lightning The most veteran player on the young Lightning squad is currently their leading scorer and in two games this year he has shown he can score in bunches.  Still just 30 years old, Kovacevic scored back to back goals against Cincinnati to give Louisville a 4-1 lead and he scored a natural hat trick (three consecutive goals) against Detroit to turn a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 lead.   Frank Peabody, Louisville Lightning The rookie goalkeeper has made 40 saves in two games this year and allowed just nine goals.  The 25 year old has shown quick reflexes and fast feet in the nets with a full highlight reel of saves.   The Week Ahead    The PASL-Pro has no games scheduled until December 4. That weekend will see six games and the following weekend features 10 games.    The US Arena Open has begun and for the first time a team outside the PASL system advanced.  The Colorado Cavaliers moved on by winning their regional tournament and they will face the Denver Dynamite on December 19. The PASL-Pro teams enter the competition on December 11.

About Professional Arena Soccer League The PASL-Pro is a professional league which began play on October 25, 2008 when the Stockton Cougars defeated the Colorado Lightning 10-5 at Stockton Arena. The 2008-09 season concluded with the North American Championships March 13-15 at Stockton Arena.  The Stockton Cougars defeated 1790 Cincinnati 13-5 to win the inaugural PASL-Pro Championship.  The PASL-Pro consists of nine US teams, the CMISL (Canada), and LMFR (Mexico). The San Diego Sockers, Louisville Lightning, and Ohio Vortex have been added for the 2009/10 season. PASL-Premier is in its 12th season as the nation’s top amateur arena soccer league.  PASL-Pro and PASL-Premier are members of Federacion Internacional de Futbol Rapido (FIFRA).