WATERLOO - Sitting behind two seniors on the depth chart, Waterloo Columbus goalkeeper Michael Goerdt spent his freshman season watching and learning.

Thursday in the nightcap of the metro boys' soccer jamboree, Goerdt was dominating. In his first varsity start, the Columbus sophomore made 12 saves to help his team salvage a 0-0 tie with Decorah.

The 40-minute, one-half battle had more intensity than your typical exhibition as Decorah and Columbus have met each of the last two seasons with a trip to state on the line. Last year, Decorah advanced to the state tournament.

"It was a nice, fun little tune-up game, but I really wanted to beat them," said Goerdt, a newcomer to the rivalry. "We only played one half of soccer and we were missing a couple of our guys, so I think we'll be good come regular season."

In other jamboree matchups, Cedar Falls rolled past Waterloo East, 7-0, and Waterloo West cruised past NU High, 2-0.

Similar to Waterloo West and Cedar Falls' powerful offenses, Decorah dictated play throughout the entirety of Thursday's exhibition. The Vikings outshot Columbus 19-4 and were only forced to make two saves.

With 28 minutes, 41 seconds remaining, Decorah's Brock Arend fired a shot on net that Goerdt reached up and deflected over the top of the goal. The Columbus keeper came through nine minutes later when he caught Jackson Stallberger's header from close range.

Stallberger nearly got his team on the board with 13:08 to play when he rifled a ball off the crossbar from 10 yards out.

"I'm pretty satisfied with what happened today despite, not putting the ball in the net," Decorah coach Kyle Nelson said. "We had opportunities; we just need to do better in the final third."

The Vikings are an experienced team that returns all but two letterwinners from last season. Their roster is filled with standouts from the football team that made a run into the Class 3A finals last fall.

"This group of kids is incredibly competitive," Nelson said. "They want to win and they want to work for each other."

In contrast, Columbus is looking to replace six starters from a year ago.

"We're still not sure on who's playing out there yet, so we're running a lot of people in and out," Sailors' co-head coach Jim Morrey said. "They came together (today) in the last seven (minutes) and we got a couple of shots on offense.

"Our keeper did a very good job for us," co-head coach Don Sullivan added. "That was his first game as keeper and he did a really good job."

Playing behind Travis Abben, who finished with 12 shutouts for a Columbus team that allowed 0.5 goals per game last season, Goerdt believes the most important thing he learned was how to become stronger in one-on-one situations.

"I watched Abben a lot last year and learned how to dive after the balls when I was in one-on-ones from watching him," he said.

CEDAR FALLS 7, WATERLOO EAST 0 - Members of the Cedar Falls soccer team decided they wanted to wear the team's older uniforms for Thursday's season-opening exhibition. Despite the old-school look, the Tigers feel they're ready to head into a new direction this spring.

Cedar Falls returns all but two starters from last year's 5-7 team. Against East, the Tigers' offense was clicking with a 25-1 shot advantage and six different players scoring goals.

"The guys that I have as seniors and juniors, they've all grown up playing together," Cedar Falls coach Josh Printz said. "As far as attacking, they're just used to each other. When it's working, it's nice to watch - it's pretty. They have a lot of chemistry, and I'm really pleased with how they're playing."

Cedar Falls scored 1:15 into the exhibition when Cody Zey headed in a cross from Nick Dimarco. Junior midfielder Sam Fransdal commanded the Tigers' attack early on with sharp footwork and precise passing.

After drilling a rebound past East's goalkeeper, he dodged a defender at midfield and found Wesley Boyer, who netted a breakaway goal, making it 3-0. Omeed Kashef scored two of Cedar Falls' final four goals.

Fransdal believes experience will be the most noticeable difference on this year's team.

"I knew we'd have a great team coming back," he said. "My expectations are really high. … Last year we were going through a tough time, but this year we've pulled through and have gotten it together."

For East, experience is limited this season. East returns five letterwinners and seven of the Trojans' 22 players are new to the sport of soccer.

"We've got to toughen it up even more," coach Noah Kramer said, addressing his defense. "Marking up was definitely a weakness for us in this game."

WATERLOO WEST 2, NU HIGH 0 - The Wahawks spent nearly the entire 40 minutes of their exhibition on the attack. West outshot NU High 16-0 en route to a shutout victory.

Senior standout Amir Kantarevic was the catalyst for West's offense. He lofted a long-range chip shot over the Panthers' goalkeeper in the eighth minute. Kantarevic's centering pass found Drew Dana who deposited West's second goal with 3:02 remaining.

"We had a lot of chances and not to give up a shot was pretty solid," West coach Michael Penning said. "I like how we possessed the ball. We didn't do anything flashy. We just played simple and that's one we've worked on. Things are coming together nicely."

The Wahawks return seven starters and 13 letterwinners from last year's team that went 12-6 and played for an opportunity to reach the state tournament. The Mississippi Valley Conference will pose a tough challenge for West again this season.

"Our conference is stacked with three teams that are going to be ranked in the top 10, I imagine," Penning said. "I'd put us realistically right behind those three. … If we play well, I think we can beat anybody. If we don't play well, I think anybody can get us. We'll control our own fate"

NU High will be sporting a young team this season. The Panthers finished below .500 last year and have eight returning letterwinners with several newcomers.

The team put together a strong defensive effort, Thursday as it held West's potent attack to two goals.

"We were pretty pleased with our defensive players," coach Chris Kowalski said. "We have a lot of guys who haven't played soccer before, so the most important thing we wanted to see was them communicating and working together. We have a bunch of smart guys on our team, and they've been able to come together in the last couple of weeks."

Contact Nick Petaros at (319) 291-1428 or nick.petaros@wcfcourier.com