April 14, 2017 at 2:34 p.m.
Elevating past the Eagles
Hodags score twice late, down Northland Pines 2-1
Elevating past the Eagles
Sydney Zettler and Izzy Haverkampf scored in the final nine minutes of regulation as the Hodags rallied to defeat Northland Pines 2-1 in Eagle River.
The Hodags (2-2-0, 2-0-0 Great Northern) fell behind late in the first half when reigning GNC offensive player of the year Lexi Smith converted on a penalty kick. Zettler, who led the conference in scoring a year ago, canceled out Smith's goal in the 82nd minute, converting on a free kick. Haverkampf, a freshman, scored her second career goal just over two minutes later, finishing a 3-on-1 breakaway with Alayna Franson and Zettler.
Coach Dan Millot said it was far from the Hodags' best performance, but his side found a way to earn the victory.
"We'll chalk it up for one in the win column and look to improve next time," Millot said. "We didn't play well tonight. What I liked tonight is that we actually put together some nice combinations in the first half and just couldn't finish."
The Hodags had numerous scoring opportunities in the first half, but nothing to show for their efforts. Then, in the 34th minute, Smith sent a ball through the Hodag defense, putting Amanda Ebinal on a run into the Hodag box. Rhinelander defender Brooke Mork made contact with Ebinal, who fell to the turf and Pines was awarded a penalty kick.
Smith beat Rhinelander keeper Abby Oettinger to the right post from the penalty spot to put the Eagles ahead.
"We just got caught up," Millot said of the defensive breakdown that led to the penalty-kick goal. "We were playing pretty high, pretty aggressively and unfortunately Lexi's a nice player and if you don't stop her and she can keep the ball like that, she gets it in the box and good things can happen. For them, it happened. From my angle, it didn't look like (a foul worthy of) a PK. It looked like shoulder-to-shoulder contact going down in the box. It's a tough one. I wasn't upset with the way the girls' played defense. I thought they did a really nice job and, unfortunately, Pines got the call and Lexi put it in."
Rhinelander's finishing woes continued in the first 20 minutes of the second half, with no fewer than four prime scoring opportunities going awry. Zettler put a shot straight at keeper Hadley Kruse moments into the second, Franson just missed the upper-left hand corner of the goal on a free kick in the 61st minute. Haverkampf and Franson had two more chances moments later and neither could convert.
Finally, in the 82nd minute, after the Eagles committed their 13th foul of the match just outside their own box, Zettler lined up for the free kick and placed it in the top left corner in a spot that Kruse had no chance to defend.
"It was nice that the girls didn't give up and it took that spark," Millot said. "Sydney hit a nice free kick, well-placed."
Not satisfied with a potential draw, the Hodags kept up the attack as Zettler put Franson on a through ball into the Eagle box. Franson dribbled around Kruse, who made a diving attempt to stop the run, and calmly passed to Haverkampf in front of the net for the tap-in.
"I think they put so much pressure on Alayna Franson tonight, like we did with Lexi Smith, and what was nice is Alayna found Izzy. Basically they let Izzy go and she was able to finish," Millot said.
The Hodags had a depleted lineup Thursday with starting center back Lauren Fabich (knee) and outside midfielder Anna Sturzl (leg) out of the lineup.
"You've just got to try to keep fitting different pieces into the puzzle," Millot said. "Up until game time, we weren't sure that Madi Losch or Brooke Mork were going to play. They both played well tonight. Hat's off to them for coming off the injury list to be able to step up tonight. If we were down those four players tonight, it would have been even more of a gut-check to come away with a victory."
Rhinelander outshot Northland Pines 25-19 in the match and finished with a 13-8 edge in shots on goal. The Eagles committed nine more fouls in the match than did the Hodags.
"They beat us to a lot of 50-50 balls tonight," Millot said. "I thought we were a little tired. I don't know why we were tired, but we'll practice (Friday) take 2 1/2 days basically to get ready for Wausau East on Monday night."
The Wausau East game, which will be played at 5 p.m. in front of Rhinelander High School. It kicks off a stretch of three games in four days for the Hodags. Rhinelander will host Mosinee Tuesday and travel to Ashland on Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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