Despite having to play the season without top goal scorer Chevonne Furbert and several other leading cast members, Lady Cougars weren?t be denied an unprecedented eighth league championship on Sunday.

Furbert, who has carried the Lady Cats on her shoulders for many seasons, only returned to the champions? line-up during Sunday?s title-clinching 1-0 win over BISYS Royals at Southampton Oval.

The veteran striker had missed most of the season through knee injury.

After putting the finishing touches to an eighth league crown, Cougars? coach Vance Brown described his team?s achievement as ?very special?.

?We have eight starters away in school and so this is a very young and inexperienced team,? he explained. ?So this championship is special.

?The atmosphere at the club on Sunday night was good because the men also won the Premier Division championship and it was probably the first time ever that a women?s and men?s football team had won championships on the same day in the same season.

?And for some of our players it was their first time ever winning a league championship. It was a very good feeling and I?m extremely happy for all of the players.?

With the women?s league championship in the bag, Lady Cougars can now switch their attention to defending their FA Cup title against Royals in next week?s final at the National Sports Centre and thus clinch the coveted league and cup double.

?It?s been a total team effort so far,? Brown noted. ?Cheyra Bell has carried the goalscoring load and Nakia Dill, Keona Belboda and Shivon Washington have really helped the younger players come through.

?We are the defending FA Cup champions and so we have to defend our trophy. That would be a very fitting ending to a season in which we have worked very hard. That?s our goal now . . . to finish the season off on an even higher note.?

Cougars striker Bell, who had a goal controversially disallowed against Royals, has also set her sights on another FA Cup winner?s medal.

Clinching a league title on Sunday was a personal triumph for Bell who was sidelined through injury for the latter part of last season.

?It was very good because last season I was injured and to be a part of a successful team feels great,? she told .

?And I?m very confident that we can go on and successfully defend the FA Cup.?