MONROE — The Cheesemakers opened the 2022 regular season with a loss at home to Whitewater on Aug. 23, 6-1.

“We’re just happy to be back out here this season,” said Matt Bodeau, head coach. “It’s nice to have our continuity with all the coaches carrying over. We can see it in the players’ communication and positivity. This preseason has been a very different atmosphere and we’re very happy as coaches.”

Bodeau’s young squad came out aggressive with confidence, yet under control in the first half, playing with conviction and taking calculated risks. 

After 30 minutes of trying to poke holes through the defense, sophomore forward Matthew Setterstrom made a heads up play, following a weakly hit ball into the box, and running up to the goalkeeper, who misplayed a bounce, allowing Setterstrom to gain possession and snap a quick kick into the net from the edge of the 6-yard box.

“Our 4-4-2, this was our first time putting it out against opponents. I was really happy that we were able to pressure,” Bodeau said. “Matthew did a really good job of setting up pressure and got the keeper out of sorts and was able to convert that goal. I was really happy with that.”

The Monroe program has struggled in recent years to score, let alone score first. This year’s squad is relatively young, and in the season opener got tired quickly in the second half. Luckily for the Cheesemakers, there are some strong bench pieces ready to enter the fray over the coming weeks.

“We have Stefan (Golubov) will be coming back; a transfer from Janesville named Gregorio that we hope will be on the roster soon; and Freddy Reyes is a returning senior coming back soon, and Tristen Vazquez who is ineligible right now, but will be back in a few games,” Bodeau said. “The quality of our subs will be helpful at both the JV and varsity levels.”

In the second half, Whitewater took a risk of its own, and it paid off with a quick goal less than two minutes after play restarted.

Over the next 16 minutes, the Whippets scored four more times, as the Cheesemakers were noticeably gassed on defense.

“In the second half we put some subs into those midfield positions, and that’s where that ability to control the midfield started to slip a little bit,” Bodeau said. “With a couple of younger players, that will be a big talking point in practice: Goals follow goals. We need to come back out with composure immediately after that first goal goes in.”

Sophomore keeper Hudson Davis looked like a seasoned veteran much of the night, despite the five goals allowed. Just one goal came on his own mistake, where he rushed at the striker up in the box.

“With a sophomore keeper, you know you’re going to concede a few goals that season, but you will have a much more experienced keeper in the following seasons,” Bodeau said. “We’re lucky he’s physically large for his age. There was a save he made today where he was maybe two or three steps out farther than he should be, but with that extra height he was able to recover. “

Davis made many highlight-reel saves, but Bodeau said he was especially pleased with the little things too, like clearances and hitting targets with his passes. 

“He was able to send a few balls back up to half that were out of the box, and also his distribution was accurate and with intention, and they were timed correctly with distance that I honestly didn’t know he had. It was exciting to find that out,” Bodeau said.

Whitewater scores its final goal late in the 78th minute on a penalty kick off of a handball in the box. The goal was scored against freshman backup goalie Carsen Bartholf.

“We’re actually really lucky too in that we have a couple of younger players following Hudson that have really good technical ability in the keeper position, and that’s something we haven’t had in recent seasons,” Bodeau said. “Carsen Bartholf did a good job filling in for us today, and then we have Nate Richardson, a freshman, that likes to play that position.”

Monroe didn’t have a scrimmage this year, so Bodeau took in the game under the watchful eye of seeing his players face opponents for the first time in nearly 10 months.

“The goal I set for them before the game was to get through 80 minutes together. I think we were able to accomplish that,” Bodeau said.

Monroe was set to play again Aug. 25 at home against Dodgeville-Mineral Point, then welcomes River Valley to town on Aug. 29, with Portage/Poynette at Monroe the very next night on Aug. 30.