June 30, 2017 at 1:37 p.m.
Team review: RHS girls' soccer
Hodags dominate GNC, come close to making deep tourney run
Team review: RHS girls' soccer
The Hodags were seconds away from forcing the Red Raiders into overtime in their regional final tilt, until Brooke Schauer's open look from the top of the 18-yard box found its way home in the 90th minute.
Pulaski went on to knock off a pair of No. 1 seeds - Green Bay Southwest and New Richmond - to advance to the state tournament.
"They're a close team and I think that what hurts more than anything," coach Dan Millot said after his side's bitter playoff defeat.
Still the Hodags had plenty to celebrate in 2017. The team went 20-4-0 overall and won its sixth consecutive Great Northern Conference title in the process.
Here are five storylines from the RHS girls' soccer season.
Six-time success
Between early season injuries and a defense in transition, a sixth straight conference title wasn't exactly a shoo-in for the Hodags.
Yet, somehow, Rhinelander made its latest title defense look easy.
Rhinelander's toughest challenges proved to be early season contests against Ashland, Northland Pines and Lakeland - the three teams that finished directly behind the Hodags in the conference standings.
After opening the season with a hard-fought 3-1 road victory at Lakeland, the Hodags had to rally from a 1-0 deficit late in the second half at Northland Pines. Two goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation lifted the Hodags to a 2-1 win over the Eagles. At home against Ashland April 20, the Hodags got a pair of first-half goals from Alayna Franson and then held on after the Oredockers scored late for a 2-1 victory.
Then Rhinelander hit its stride with 10-0 victories over Wausau Newman Medford and Lakeland.
By the time the Hodags won the rematch with Ashland, 4-1, on May 16 they had locked up another conference title. They ended up running the table in conference play, Rhinelander's third unbeaten and untied season in its six-year reign.
"This is a reflection upon our program," Millot said. "We have JV players that push our varsity to be better. We have varsity players pushing varsity. For us to be successful, every piece of the machine needs to do their job. If we can continue to do that, we should continue to have success, but everybody needs to buy into what they need to do to make the entire program better."
Potent offense
Rhinelander's attackers and midfielders continued to make the GNC their personal playground this spring. The team's 91 goals in league play and 110 goals overall both led the conference by a wide margin.
Junior Alayna Franson proved to be the catalyst of the offense this spring, earning conference offensive player of the year honors in the process. She led the conference in goals with 23 and her 26 assists were more than twice that of anyone else in the GNC.
Of course Franson wasn't alone in the attack. Senior teammate Sydney Zettler was third in the conference in goals (20) and second in assists (12). Junior Anna Sturzl, despite being limited by a leg injury early in the season, still cracked the top 10 in conference scoring with 13 goals and six assists. Freshman Izzy Haverkampf added some punch up top. Her 11 goals and two helpers in conference play allowed her to finish 11th in the conference in scoring.
Improving defense
Entering the season Rhinelander had a new keeper in Abby Oettinger and had to fill holes in the defense in front of her following the graduation of Claire Hjelle, Kylie Preul and Hallie Wright.
A back four already in transition suffered another setback when the elder statesperson of the group, senior Lauren Fabich, suffered a knee injury in team's second game of the season at Pulaski and missed more than half the campaign.
Yet the Hodags rounded into form and proved to be the top defensive unit in the GNC. Only twice on the season did the Hodags concede more than two goals in a match - both times against Pulaski. Overall, Rhinelander allowed six goals in 14 conference games and 22 goals overall in a 24-game season.
Oettinger, who transitioned from defense to keeper during preseason practice, became more confident in the net as the season progressed and a young defense around her, including underclassmen Brooke Mork, Madi Losch and Kenedy Van Zile, held its own. Fabich's return to the lineup in May helped bolster the unit further.
"Our defense is solid and they're playing really good as a group together and that helps," Millot said.
Battling the best
Those who watched Rhinelander's 5-1 loss at Pulaski back on April 8 probably didn't give the Hodags much of a chance when the teams met again in the WIAA tournament.
Yet the Hodags struck first in the match on Alayna Franson's 11th minute goal and were level with the Red Raiders 1-1 at halftime.
Maggie Hernandez scored her second goal of the match in the 51st minute to give Pulaski the lead but Mork, who lost Hernandez in one-on-one coverage leading to the two strikes, redeemed herself with an 80th minute goal to square the match.
The game seemed destined for overtime until Pulaski's last-ditch attack at the end of regulation, still the Hodags had the Red Raiders on full upset alert.
"We gave them a battle," Millot said. "They came off the pitch knowing they just had a battle."
What's next
Once again, the Hodags are left to replace a number of key pieces right in the middle of their formation, beginning with Zettler up top. In the middle, versatile midfielder Albiona Sabani graduates. She spent time at central and defensive mid this year, along with a few games in the back, depending on the matchup. Fabich is gone in the back and Oettinger's departure will mean Rhinelander will go into next spring looking for its fifth different goalkeeper in five years.
Other graduating seniors include Haley Sisel, Lauryn Cook, Shelby Kuehn, Sydney Zastrow, Lauryn Roberts and Shea Petersen.
"So now we look to what we need to improve on for next season so we can come back and hopefully move further in the playoffs, but we're going to have some big shoes to fill," Millot said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.