LANGLEY — For South Whidbey, it was a matter of time.

More than 40 minutes ticked by before the Falcon boys soccer team’s relentless offense scored. In its first home game, South Whidbey defeated Sultan 3-0 on Friday night.

By halftime, the Falcons (2-0 Cascade Conference, 3-0 overall) had eight shots on goal against the Sultan Turks. Sultan, meanwhile, was kept far from South Whidbey’s goalkeeper, who only had two saves and didn’t allow a score.

“It took us a while,” said Falcon senior forward Noah Moeller. “It was mainly warming up to the field and getting into our rhythm. We have a great team with passing and control.”

The defensive dam broke early in the second half. South Whidbey had one major advantage in the final half; Moeller, the Falcons’ leading scorer with eight goals this season, started on the field.

“As a captain and a team leader, when he’s out there, the team just plays better,” said Falcon head coach Joel Gerlach. “But as we saw in the first half, those other two forwards can play. They’re capable and they got their shots off.”

In the 44th minute, Falcon junior midfielder Connor McCauley passed from the left boundary line across the middle to Moeller. About 5 yards out, Moeller rocketed the ball into the right corner of the net.

“In rec season, I played a lot of outside mid, and that got me ready for the games,” McCauley said.

“I just like to take it wide and then break the defense out by going in the middle.”

South Whidbey’s offense continued hammering Sultan’s defenders. Moeller went on a tear with three shots on goal in the next 10 minutes.

McCauley scored the Falcons’ second goal in the 62nd minute. Moeller passed the ball from the right side of the goal to the left, where McCauley met it with a booming kick that shot into the back of the net.

“Their defense, they were really spread out,” McCauley said. “So that causes a lot of room, so we got a lot of space to work.”

The Falcons’ final score came five minutes later, after two more shots on goal by sophomore forward James Young, who also had two shots in the first half. Moeller scored his eighth goal of the season on a cross from McCauley in the 67th minute to take a 3-0 lead. Turk junior goalkeeper Danny Arroyo had 10 saves.

Moeller played limited minutes because of an ankle injury sustained during a 6-0 rout of Granite Falls last week. He started the match on the bench, and sat shortly after his second goal. Moeller played about 40 minutes after he was unable to fully participate in practices the week of the Sultan match, though Moeller said he would continue to play through the injury.

“It hurts a little, but it’s feeling pretty good,” Moeller said of his ankle. “It’s just soft tissue damage.”

Through three games, the Falcon defense was perfect with no goals allowed. The few times that Sultan sent a ball into South Whidbey’s defense, Falcon defenders like Cameron Coupe, Rudi Hamsa and Sam Lee quickly got the ball and moved it to their mids upfield. The two shots on goal the Turks got off were both saved by Falcon senior goalie Garret Thomson.

“The defense is so solid right now,” Gerlach said. “You keep the other team from getting a goal, all you have to do is get one.”

After a first half full of South Whidbey shots on goal, but no scores, the Falcons made some adjustments. Gerlach said the Turks filled the box, so he told his team to work from the outside and force their defenders to step out.

“What they were doing to us in the first half is they just had so many guys packed in there, it was hard for us to get anything going,” Gerlach said.

“Hopefully we can keep this rolling,” Gerlach added.

The flat start with hurried shots and frenzied sprints won’t continue, the Falcons’ leaders said. After the victory, Coupe told his teammates they need to be better prepared from the first possession, rather than syncing in the second half. Moeller said the team will change its pregame routine.

“We just gotta get in the mode of winning the game from the get-go rather than slowly easing into it,” Moeller said.

The Falcons host the Coupeville Wolves (0-2 Cascade Conference, 1-2 overall) at 6 p.m. Friday, March 30.