August 16, 2011 at 9:56 a.m.
Hodags set sights on repeat
Despite key losses, RHS soccer team optimistic about defending GNC crown
Hodags set sights on repeat
That is the situation that the Rhinelander High School boys' soccer team finds itself in as it prepares for the start of the 2011 season.
Gone from last year's Great Northern Conference championship squad is two 20-plus goal scorers in Luke Wegehaupt and Ryan Willging and GNC Defensive Player of the Year Collin Smith. Compound that with the loss of Isaac Pierre and three other seniors and you get a team looking for a new identity.
"Putting the pieces of the puzzle together hasn't been easy," RHS head coach Dan Millot said. "When you look at the players that we did lose, they were key components to our conference championship last year.
"I think we have a lot of young players coming up that have really excelled in practice and are showing some very promising and encouraging things," he added. "The heart of our defense returns from last year and it was a pretty stellar defense as far as the field players were concerned."
The defensive group of senior Nathan Schmitz, junior Matt Lucas and sophomore Colton Volkman remain intact, but will be playing in front of a new netminder in junior Connor Labelle. Labelle spent some time in goal last season, taking over for an injured Smith in a game against D.C. Everest. He allowed only a pair of goals in 108 minutes.
Millot has full confidence in the junior goalkeeper's abilities, saying that he is going to surprise people and that he has improved as a goalie. An area in which Millot was more worried about initially was who was going to score.
"We have kids that are putting the ball in the back of the net, which was one of my concerns going into this season," he said. "Having lost Ryan Willing, Luke Wegehaupt and Isaac Pierre, kids that could put the ball in the back of the net, [I was a bit worried]. We have some kids who may not be as proficient right now at it, but they're improving on a daily basis. I think we're going to put a very exciting product on the field."
Some of the players that Millot foresees stepping up offensively this year are seniors Adam Schmitz and Brent Lewis and junior Braxton Hjelle. Depending on how the pieces of the puzzle fit and who plays where, he also could see junior Brad Kenote and sophomore Nate Tvedten being forces in finding the back of the net.
With a strong defensive unit and plenty of goal-scoring potential on offense, the team believes it has a good chance at defending its GNC title, making it one of its many goals at this past weekend's team-bonding and goal-setting sessions at the Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom (CAVOC).
Millot said, however, that they need to make sure they don't take anyone for granted and in his opinion, the conference title is "up for grabs."
"When we look at our competition within the GNC, one of the things that we talked about during our goal-setting session was the reality that we can't overlook anyone," he said. "Every single team in the conference has the ability to beat anyone else."
According to Millot, Lakeland, Northland Pines and Mosinee should all have very good teams this year, while Medford and Antigo will also continue to improve their programs.
The Hodags also set season goals of achieving a cumulative team GPA of 3.5 or better, to be active in the community by performing service projects and to continue striving to be a class act.
Another big thing that came out of the goal-setting and team-building sessions was the theme of always showing up, both physically and mentally, in the classroom, on the practice field and in game action.
The Hodags, who travel to Wisconsin Rapids for a scrimmage today, get their season officially underway Friday at the Hodag Fall Classic.
They will take on Wausau West, Ashland and Stevens Point in the two-day competition that takes place at the RHS soccer fields.
"The first thing that we're looking to do (at the classic) is to play well," Millot said. "We want to be competitive right out off the gate. The second thing is that it's an opportunity with these (non-conference) games for me to put players into different positions so I can try to find where this team's chemistry is going to come from and who's going to play where within the scope of our system. Third, it just gives us some pretty tough (non-conference) competition."
Their game Friday against Wausau West, while out of the conference, could have major implications come seeding time later in the fall as they are in the same regional as the Warriors.
Millot also said that Ashland has grown into a strong program and Stevens Point is going to be their "toughest test of the weekend" and a "true test of where they fit in the overall spectrum of how good teams are."
Friday's game against West is scheduled to start at 5 p.m., while Saturday's contests against Ashland and Point are slated for 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
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