Host Edwardsburg scored a pair of goals against former Lakeland Conference foe and archrival Cassopolis en route to a 4-0 soccer victory Tuesday evening.

The Eddies (2-3) had two early chances to score on the Rangers, but banged shots off the goal.

Finally, in the 19th minute, freshman Anna Roberts beat Jocelyn Transou to make it 1-0 in favor of Edwardsburg.

Nearly 20 minutes later, the Eddies’ Paige Szlanfucht scored the second unassisted goal of the first half and Edwardsburg led 2-0.

Both first half goals came on breakaways for the Eddies.

“After hitting the post twice within a few minutes, I thought we would panic,” Edwardsburg coach Brett Harring said. “But we kept calm and were able to use our wings (Roberts, Brittany Udell, Jennifer Sporleder, Sarah Ward) throughout the game to attack the goal.”

Having played most of their games so far this season in temperatures closer to freezing, both teams struggled a little bit with the weather conditions. Both teams substituted freely, trying to keep fresh legs on the pitch and players hydrated.

Cassopolis coach Oli Olafsson said his team may have looked a bit timid in the opening 40 minutes, but that had more to do with the playing surface than their desire to get in there and mix it up.

“The grass is so tall here that they are waiting for the ball to come to them rather than them stepping into it,” he said. “They fixed it a little bit in the second half, but the damage was already done.”

Any thoughts the Rangers (4-4) had of coming back in the second half probably were erased in the 47th minute when Udell scored off an assist from Gabi Fonseca.

Edwardsburg capped the scoring in the 76th minute when Sporleder scored to make it 4-0.

“As the game wore on, we had more subs to keep putting in the game, but both teams looked tired from the work put into the game,” Harring said. “All in all, it was an exciting game to watch and a good win for Edwardsburg.”

Olafsson noted the Rangers were not necessarily focused on playing the Eddies as they have been when they belonged to the same conference.

Cassopolis has a huge Lakeland Conference match Wednesday against Buchanan at home. For all practical purposes, the match is for the league championship since there are only four teams in the Lakeland this season.

“I think there wasn’t the same emphasis as in years past and that is unfortunately,” Olafsson said.

The Eddies outshot the Rangers 12-10. Alexis Blake and Steph Hodge were credited with five saves. Transou stopped five shots for Cassopolis.

 

Cassopolis…0

Edwardsburg…4

Halftime score

Edwardsburg 2, Cassopolis 0

 

First half

E – Anna Roberts 19th minute

E – Paige Szlanfucht 34th minute

 

Second half

E – Brittany Udell 47th minute (Gabi Fonseca assist)

E – Jennifer Sporleder 76th minute

 

Shots on goal

Cassopolis 10

Edwardsburg 12

 

Saves

Cassopolis 5 (Jocelyn Transou)

Edwardsburg 5 (Alexis Blake/Steph Hodges)

Varsity records: Cassopolis 4-4, Edwardsburg 2-3