LEBANON — Lebanon High girls soccer coach Breck Taber has the team he’s wanted for years, a shifty, ball-moving ensemble that plays hard defense and is greater than the sum of its parts.

That team only showed up in bursts Tuesday, but it was enough to beat Milford, 2-0, and push the Raiders to 2-1-0 this season under their eighth-year boss.

“When they execute what we practice, it’s good,” Taber said. “It’s moving off the ball to get into passing lanes. It’s having your head up when you have the ball and limiting touches.

“There are times where we take too many touches in the midfield, but it was better than the previous two games.”

And, potentially, better than in past seasons. Lebanon was a combined 24-15-5 the past three years, but there’s been a nagging feeling the Raiders could have been better.

Sally Rainey, an all-state goalkeeper now playing at UNH, and her younger sister, Mary, now at Maine’s Bowdoin College, carried the program the last five seasons. However, their teammates sometimes had a tendency to rely too much on the siblings’ pulling power.

Especially last autumn, when multiple Lebanon players could be seen flatfooted, waiting for Mary Rainey, a midfielder, to work free and decide if she’d shoot or pass.

“Mary was awesome but at times, because she was so good, she’d try to do too much,” Taber said. “If you do too much too often, the defense collapses on you.

“The big emphasis now is what can we do off the ball, how can we create that way.”

At their best Tuesday, the Raiders were anything but stagnant, exhibiting continuous ball control with repeated threats up the wings and the ability to counterattack when opportunity arose.

The game reduced to kickball at times as oppressive heat and humidity bore down, but the hosts often looked collectively purposeful, which wasn’t always the case in past seasons.

Lebanon opened the scoring midway through the first half. Sydney Deshane dribbled around a defender on the left side and to the end line, from where she sent a crisp, low cross past goalkeeper Molly Miles and to an unmarked Izzy Hamilton, who scored from 3 yards.

The Raiders doubled their lead with 2 minutes, 30 seconds to play. Brooke Walker placed a shot under the crossbar from the top of the box after strong pressure forced the Spartans (1-2-0) to cough the ball up deep in their end.

“We ask our players to give the ball carrier something to do with it, help her out by running into space,” Taber said. “Before, the chances of that happening weren’t as great.”

Sophomore goalkeeper and first-year starter Maezie Angles looked sharp and dove to her right to stop a short breakaway during the second half. The pieces seem potentially in place for the Raiders to finally make a deep playoff run.

“Maezie plays during the spring and summer, and she goes to camps,” Taber said, noting that Angles plays club ball for Hanover High boys coach Rob Grabill, a noted netminding tutor. “She’s dedicated and is stepping in nicely.

“If we play up to our abilities and don’t panic with the ball, then I think we can surprise people.”

Notes: Lebanon’s Laura Hines departed during the first half and headed to the hospital with what appeared to be an arm injury. … The Raiders have eight sophomores and six regularly play, including Nordic skiing star Annie Hanna. … UNH is 3-2-0 with Sally Rainey starting every game and posting a 1.24 GAA. … Bowdoin is 0-0-1 with Mary Rainey playing 23 minutes during the Polar Bears’ lone contest to date.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.