Staff photo / Brian Yauger. Mooney sophomore Mia Williams fends off Kennedy’s Sophia Tilley during Wednesday’s game. Williams scored two goals in the win.

WARREN — Knowing who it was up against, Cardinal Mooney knew it had to strike first.

After controlling pace for nearly 30 minutes, sophomore Mia Williams found the back of the net. Ten minutes later, she did it again to help the Cardinals take down Warren JFK 3-1 on Wednesday in Warren.

“Kennedy is a fantastic team. They’re just great all the way around, so it was big for us,” Mooney coach Agni Cvercko said. “They’re a very strong team. They have talent all the way around the field, and so we said, ‘Hey, we have to capitalize first, because the first goal is going to probably win the game,’ and that’s what happened.”

Williams was able to deliver twice in a 10-minute span. The sophomore has caught fire early this season and is going to be a major force for the Cardinals.

“Mia is just a beautiful player,” Cvercko said. “She knows the game so very well, she reads the field beautifully. She’s really good at finishing, as you saw today. She’s a sophomore, and she’s just gotten so much better from last year. It’s exciting to see what she’s going to do in the next two years.”

Junior Leah Hudak added the third goal for Mooney early on in the second half.

Kennedy’s energy on Wednesday was uncharacteristically lackadaisical. It took until the final 15 minutes of the game for the team to really catch fire, culminating in a goal from junior Maylee Nadaud.

“The year has been treating us pretty well except for tonight, if I’ll be honest,” Eagles coach Kayla Zoccole said. “We’ve been playing decently, playing the ball well, and scoring a lot. Today, we did not do very much of that. We locked in a little bit toward the last 10 minutes, which is when we were able to start scoring a little bit and locking in. We were really slow compared to everything we’re very used to so far this season.”

But after the game, Zoccole talked about this being a great learning opportunity. Mooney is no slouch of an opponent and a great team to help prepare the Eagles (2-1) for postseason play.

“I want them to learn that games like this are important because they only make you grow and get better for postseason games,” Zoccole said. “We may and probably will see them again potentially in the postseason, so it’s just a positive step forward, a teaching lesson, and a learning tool for sure.”

Kennedy now travels to Beloit to take on West Branch on Saturday.

The Cardinals (3-1) have a big game against Canfield scheduled for Saturday. To take down Canfield, expect Mooney to come out strong early the way it did against Kennedy.

“We just have to keep up the intensity from today and continue the play that we have been playing,” Cvercko said. “It’s just good soccer, connecting passes and finishing.”