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 In a span of eight days, FC Milwaukee played nearly half of its Women's Premier Soccer League schedule.
The Nationals are 3-0-1 in that span after beating the Iowa Rush 2-1 on Saturday night and getting past Minnesota Kings FC 1-0 on Sunday in Midwest Conference North Division matches played in Germantown.
The weekend games followed a 0-0 tie against Chicago Eclipse Select in 100-degree heat on Wednesday in Oak Brook, Ill.
"It's been a busy start," FC Milwaukee coach Christian Lavers said.
University of Wisconsin forward Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon Homestead) had both goals against the Rush, with her third goal of the season snapping a 1-1 tie.
"We probably had 85 percent of the possession," Lavers said. "Give Iowa their credit, they worked really, really hard and they sat back and tried to counter and obviously got us once.
"It was one of those games where we've got to take our chances better, maybe create a few more, but we certainly had the ball enough."
On Sunday against Kings FC, the Nationals were without UW-Milwaukee star forward Sarah Hagen (Appleton North), who left for Sweden with the U.S. Under-23 national team. FC Milwaukee also has been without defender Brittany Von Rueden, a 2012 Notre Dame recruit who has been training with the U.S. Under-18 national team in California.
Marquette's Rosie Malone-Pavolny scored the lone goal off a set piece with approximately 10 minutes left.
UW defender Lindsey Johnson (Mequon Homestead) served in a corner kick that Marquette defender Kerry McBride (Milwaukee DSHA) headed back across the goal, and Malone-Pavolny volleyed it in from 6 yards out for her first of the season.
"Again, we had a lot of the ball but didn't create as many chances as we would like," said Lavers, whose team hit the post twice against the WPSL newcomers.
"That Minnesota team is tough. They're athletic, they're quick ... I think the league this year is tougher than last year – and I thought there were some good teams last year."
But so far, so good for FC Milwaukee. The reigning division and conference champions have outscored opponents 7-1 with three shutouts.
"We're a lot better than we were a couple of weeks ago," said Lavers, whose team has road matches at the Chicago Red Stars on Thursday and Kings FC next Sunday. "I think it takes a while for the players to get used to each other and come back and get into the flow of things.
"If we can get wins early on, we feel pretty good that we'll keep getting better over the course of the summer. So it's been a good start."
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