POULSBO — The North Kitsap Vikings were having an off day. And the Central Kitsap Cougars took them to the cleaners for it.

Caitlin Verhofstadt scored three goals and added an assist and Bethany Daniel added another goal as the visiting Cougars beat NK 4-0.

“We went back to doing what they do well, passing, communicating, and team work,” said Cougars’ Head Coach Vicki Webb. “This is the best game we’ve played all season.”

And it came at a time when the Vikings were on opposite ends of the spectrum — miscommunications, flat feet and missed passes — things simply were “off,” as Vikings’ Coach Teri Ishihara put it.

“We didn’t play well,” Ishihara said. “Our passes were off, our touch was off, everything was a little off.”

CK’s first goal of the game came on a ball that bounced off a Viking jersey right into the feet of Verhofstadt, who angled it away from goalie Kamryn Morgran with 27:41 to go in the first. The Cougars didn’t take long to add a second tally, on an arching pass from the right side that found Daniel for a header that put CK up 2-0 with 25:03 left in the half.

It appeared North Kitsap was going to strike back as the team got some close-range scoring chances from Rosie Zadra and Amber Grable.

But on their next offensive chance, Verhofstadt scored a point-blank shot of her own with just over 11 minutes still to play in the first.

The start of the second didn’t prove to be any better for the Vikings, with Verhofstadt sealing a hat-trick early on a bullet, assisted by Lindsay Schiffman at 36:42 to play.

The win is a rebound for the Cougars, who have not been in their best form lately, Webb said.

“Last week, we laughed about them being abducted by aliens,” she said.

Both teams have a remaining home game and then league playoffs coming up Saturday at Stadium High School in Tacoma.