MILWAUKEE — Cedarburg used its head Saturday to defeat Edgewood by a 2-1 margin in a showdown between teams that qualified for the WIAA state girls soccer tournament last season.
"They’ve got a good girl up top. I knew our girls would respond. We’ve been having some good practices," Cedarburg head coach Robert Williams said. "I knew our girls were ready to come out and play. Edgewood’s a good side and I was really proud of our girls today."
The match was at a neutral site, held at Viets Field on the campus of MSOE.
"Our girls like playing down here," Williams said about the field turf surface at a facility on top of a parking garage in downtown Milwaukee. "You know you’re going to get a good game in. It’s a great surface."
Cedarburg showed it liked playing at the home of the Raiders by netting a pair of goals in the opening half. Williams was pleased with that production.
"We’ve been working on crossing balls and getting in and getting it. I think last year it was a little bit of our Achilles heel was us not being able to finish balls in the box," he said. "It was two good goals today."
The first came in the 18th minute when Joie Carpenter scored off a corner kick sent in by Talan Nobile.
Williams noted that assistant coach Caroline FInk had a premonition that the sophomore would find a way to net a goal and it was proven correct.
"It’s funny, we were talking before the game and Caroline was like Joie’s going to score, and then she did," Williams explained. "Joie’s just been playing some good soccer. That's a great goal."
Carpenter has increased her per-game scoring output over the first three matches of the season after notching three goals a year ago.
"She’s got two for us already," Williams said. "She’s going to be a good player for us."
Mia Thompson took her turn in the 26th minute when she scored on a header off an assist from Lacy Johnson.
"Mia hasn’t been getting the time, but she got some time today and put a nice goal in. It’s good to see," Williams said. "It’s just good to see different people score. I think there’s some people that we can still unlock to get some goals for us, and when we do, we’ll be even more dangerous."
While he conceded that the senior has not been able to get a ton of playing time in the early going, she has made a positive impact on the team and showed that she is capable of finishing when she gets the opportunity.
"She’s playing behind some good players. She always has a great attitude. She just comes and works and does the little things," Williams said. "A player that just does the little stuff for us and a good kid to have in the program."
While the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead into the break, Edgewood netted a goal less than four minutes into the second half when Sonoma Bever broke free and was able to cut Cedarburg’s advantage in half.
The Bulldogs maintained the lead from there.
"That’s just toughness," Williams said about finishing out the match, although he noted that the team has some things to clean up in end-of-game situations. "I think we’ve got to do a better job at the end of the game of keeping the ball, kill the clock, but I really like this team.
"We’re deep, we’re smart and it’s still early and I still think there’s room for us to improve," he added. "We’ve got some good girls on this team. We’re going to keep trying to grind and improve."
The veteran coach suggested that his team will be tested throughout the season, and last week was a sample of things to come after the club played Homestead to a 1-1 draw Tuesday before taking on a Crusaders team that advanced to the WIAA Div. 3 championship game last season.
"I didn’t do us any favors with our schedule. But, like always, we’ll build and get better at the end," he said. "We played them, we played Homestead, DC Everest, we’ve got a stretch with Pewaukee, DSHA, Plymouth and that’s a murder’s row for our team. But, I think at the end it’s the best thing for us."
Cedarburg, now 2-0-1 overall, travels to Pewaukee for a nonconference contest Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.