CASSOPOLIS — Despite the 5-2 win by the Cassopolis girls’ varsity soccer on a chilly Wednesday afternoon over Buchanan, each coach credited its defense in the Lakeland Conference showdown.

“Without a doubt,” Cassopolis coach Oli Olafsson said after the win. “Their two goals came off free kicks and I think they only had one or two actual shots from the outside that were decent shots. Our defense midfield has been playing prevent, prevent, prevent and they overlap beautifully and I attribute our success to the defense.”

The Ranger offense, led by Bjargey Olafsson’s three goals and Meagan Ruff’s two, worked hard to break through the Buchanan defense. Cassopolis took a 1-0 lead five minutes into the contest off the foot of Ruff on a penalty kick. The Bucks tied the game at 1-1 with a penalty kick goal by Morgan French in the 29th minute.

The Rangers responded quickly with Olafsson picking up her first of three goals less than a minute later to take a 2-1 advantage.

As the first half clock ran down, Cassopolis tacked on one more goal off the toe of Jessica Waldschmidt in the 36th minute for a 3-1 halftime lead.

“I felt overall the score didn’t dictate how well our defense played,” Buchanan coach Brian Pruett said. “They (Cassopolis) were very aggressive up top in the offensive third and very skilled. We had a few mistakes here and there that cost us. They had some great shots and Cass is an improved team from last year and they are going to be in the race for the conference championship if they play the rest of the season the way they played today.”

Early in the second half Ruff connected for her second goal of the day for a comfortable 4-1 lead.

The Bucks second goal came off of a penalty kick with French sticking the ball into the net past Ranger goalie Molly Moroz.

The two Buchanan goal were the first of the season to get past Moroz.

Olafsson’s third goal of the game came in the 50th minute. The win keeps the Rangers perfect at 4-0, 3-0 in league play while the Bucks drop to 1-3 and 1-2 in Lakeland play.

“This was a big conference game and this is one of the teams in the conference that plays us tough and they beat us twice last year. They play a very physical game and our girls learned from them what they needed to do to get it done. We took a page out of their book so to speak and did it this year,” coach Olafsson said.

Cassopolis finished the day with 20 shots on goal, while the Bucks got off seven with Moroz making three saves. Taylor Sokoloskis filled the goal for the Bucks finished with three saves before leaving the game with an injury. Kayla Lowrance replaced Sokoloskis in the final minutes of the game and had a save.

Buchanan…2

Cassopolis…5

Halftime score

Cassopolis 3, Buchanan 1

First Half

C – Meagan Ruff 4th minute PK

B – Morgan French 29th minute PK

C – Bjargey Olafsson 31st minute

C – Jessica Waldschmidt 36th minute

Second Half

C – Ruff 43th minute

B – French 45 minute

C – Olafsson 50th minute

Shots on goal

Buchanan – 7

Cassopolis – 20

Saves

Cassopolis 4 (Molly Moroz)

Buchanan 4 (Taylor Sokoloskis 3, Kayla Lowrance 1)

Varsity records

Cassopolis 4-0, 3-0 Lakeland; Buchanan 1-3, 1-2 Lakeland