On the final whistle, Cathedral High School’s girls soccer team remained still and ready to defend anything coming its way. After a few seconds, however, celebration ensued and the team thrusted themselves together into a collective group hug.

With the help of Olivia Moore — who scored three goals, completing her first ever hat trick — the Lady Wave upset Laurel Christian Thursday night, 4-2.

“It took a minute for them to start screaming,” Cathedral coach Dennis Houge said. “They then realized we just beat the toughest team in our district. They exploded.”

Cathedral (6-2) jumped out to an early lead after Moore struck first just eight minutes into the first half.

The Lady Lions had a response, evening the game just four minutes later.

Houge said his team was able to stay composed by sticking to its gut feeling.

Moore — who typically plays middle striker — swapped positions to the wing in order to keep Laurel Christian on its toes. She scored her second goal after breaking away and crossing over to the right side.

The Lady Wave led, 3-2, at halftime.

“With Olivia’s speed and the strength of her leg, we knew we might be in it,” Houge said. “I told her we would put her on the wing for 15 minutes, and I wanted them to adjust their defense to compensate for her speed. We were planning on moving her back, but they never fixed their defense so we just kept exploiting it.”

While Cathedral’s offense played an untraditional setup, Houge said he was pleased to see his team remain calm and work through its strengths and weaknesses.

“I’m super proud right now. Our attitude was to stay strong and defend the goal,” he said. “Laurel is our strongest opponent traditionally. They are known for being solid, smart and moving the ball well. We knew if we could keep it close, we could sneak out a win.”

Moore agreed her team came together as one.

“We were pretty scared coming out,” she said. “We just thought that we might as well play our hardest. We really played as a team. It feels awesome.”

Cathedral’s remaining goal came on a penalty kick from Alex Pearson, while goalkeeper Rivers Lee had 12 saves, including one on a penalty kick in the second half.

The Lady Wave will be back in action early next week when they travel to Laurel Christian.