MONROE — The Cheesemakers suffered two losses to high-powered teams at Honey Creek Park as the regular season winds down in girls soccer.

Monroe fell to Platteville-Lancaster, ranked No. 7 in Division 3, 4-2 on a cold, windy and rainy May 28. Four days later under the warm sun, Edgewood, state qualifiers two of the past three seasons, waltzed off the pitch victorious, 8-0.

“The weather hasn’t cooperated with us — I think it’s rained almost every single game this season — and there is some frustration with that, but we cannot control the weather. I always say to the girls we can only control two things: Our attitude and how hard we work,” said Monroe coach Samantha Rudi.

In the loss to Platteville-Lancaster (9-1-1), Monroe fell behind in the third minute on a goal by Meagan Hall. A concerning trend for the Cheesemakers this season has been slow starts and allowing goals in the opening minutes of games.

“Our focus needs to be like we are in the second half, when we come out a little mad because we’re down,” Rudi said. “It’s becoming a pattern here that we are starting slow. We didn’t quite have it together, we had some defensive mishaps and we weren’t playing our hardest until the second half.”

Just 13 minutes after Hall’s goal, Izzy Condiff made it 2-0 in favor of the Hillmen. By halftime, Monroe trailed 3-0, but Rudi challenged her players to be more aggressive on offense in the second half.

“We felt a little angry and then we had an excellent second half and felt we outplayed them,” Rudi said. “I would argue we outplayed them in both halves, but the score shows (2-1) we outplayed them in the second half. If we played the whole game like the second half, we would have come out with the win.”

Monroe trimmed the lead midway through the second half on a rush to the net in which senior midfielder Imogen Christen crashed and scored from the left side — her first career goal.

A Platteville penalty kick goal made it 4-1 in the 56th minute. Then, in the 85th minute off a corner kick, Monroe freshman Karlee Boll scored her first career goal on a rebound in the box, kicking the ball through a crowd of legs.

“I said at halftime that if you are up there (in the box), you’re a shooter — and they listened to me. Imogen is a reluctant striker, but it was a great shot and I was really happy she got that,” Rudi said. “Karlee finds herself in the right place often, and she took the perfect shot on that one.”

The Crusaders (4-3-1) were less kind than the Hillmen. By halftime of the Edgewood game, Monroe found itself behind 5-0.

Edgewood’s Madison Foley finished the game with a hat trick. Caitlyn Hegenbarth, Ella Johnson, Sarah Dunn and Alina Stiller also scored for Edgewood.

“They are really good at communicating. That was super impressive for our coaches and team on the sideline to hear and recognize. They were communicating and calling out plays the entire game. Their formations were excellent the entire time,” Rudi said. “Our hustle slowed them down in the second half, but they (Edgewood) are a well-oiled machine.”

Monroe had few chances to make a rush on the goal, as Edgewood’s defense held its shape and individual speed kept Monroe’s attackers at bay time and time again.

“They knew where each other were at every turn. When we got a chance to break through, as soon as they got a touch on the ball they had three options to pass it to,” Rudi said. “They have a consistent coach (Chris Martinelli) that has been there for many, many years and you can tell that he has a hold on his program and his players, and they worked really hard. Our players worked really hard, too, but we were just really outmatched.”

Rudi did get a chance to clear her bench in the waning minutes. The Cheesemakers don’t have a junior varsity team this year, and while there are 25 players on the team, the depth of those that see action in close games is small. 

With sunny skies and the last home game of the season, Rudi made sure every player on her roster got into the game.

“With 25 players, for everyone to get in is a rare occurrence. A positive every day is how well our players work together and we will carry that into our future seasons,” Rudi said.

In the final week of the regular season, the Cheesemakers were flooded with games. After Tuesday’s game, Monroe was set to play at Fort Atkinson June 3, and then the regular season ends on the road at Stoughton June 5. 

“We’ve got some strategy we need to work on, like how to get passed a defense that’s rigid like Edgewood’s. We need to work some more on communicating, making good runs and keep talking about our fundamentals and trying our best,” Rudi said.

Monroe scored the No. 6 seed for the WIAA Division 3 tournament and will play at No. 3 Evansville June 10. The winner will take on either Platteville, the second seed, or seventh-seeded Cambridge-Deerfield. Sugar River earned the top seed and hosts Jefferson.

Monroe and Evansville scrimmaged before the start of the regular season, but did not officially meet for a game. The Blue Devils (9-3) were tied with McFarland for the top spot in the Rock Valley as of June 2.

Sugar River clinches Capitol title

LAKE MILLS — The Sugar River Raiders (10-1-1) captured the Capitol Conference championship June 1 with a rousing 4-0 victory over Lake Mills. The L-Cats played without Ava Stetler, the state’s leading scorer with 35 goals in 12 games this season. Stetler had a knee injury.

The Raiders took advantage of the opportunity and outshot Lake Mills 23-0.

Bella Brenkman, Callie Smith, Francesca Schiro, and Jaylyn Benson each scored for Sugar River. Brenkman and Kirsten Krantz each added an assist, while Benson had two assists.

Morgan Thompson and Kaitlyn Peterson were unchallenged in net for Sugar River. 

The Raiders were set to wrap up the regular season with a game at Watertown Luther Prep June 3.