May 22, 2017 at 4:08 p.m.
Lady Hodags battle through weather to beat Wausau West
Lady Hodags battle through weather to beat Wausau West
The rain held off from start to finish, but the wind did not, wreaking havoc on passes and shots all game. All the scoring was done in the first half as the Hodags mustered their 15th win in their last 15 games, defeating the Warriors 2-1 at the Hanson Lake Soccer Complex.
Rhinelander must have figured it should minimize the conditions early, as the Lady Hodags jumped out to 1-0 lead.
However, Wausau West responded 90 seconds later to tie the game.
Rhinelander would score just prior to halftime to regain the lead and the scoreline would hold the rest of the way.
"Considering the conditions, I thought we looked a lot better in the first half than we did in the second half," RHS head coach Dan Millot said. "In the second half, I think we were kind of fatigued and West stepped up their game in the second half. They probably won more 50-50 balls than we did. Going forward, we have to make sure those are the battles that we win."
Rhinelander was able to turn defense into offense for the first goal of the game.
With Wausau West on the attack, the Lady Hodags intercepted a pass and turned it upfield.
A series of passes resulted in a goal by Anna Sturzl.
"They had just finished attacking and we intercepted the ball about 25 yards away from our goal," Millot said. "We took off in transition and we connected four passes straight down the field. The final pass was a cross from the left flank from Payton Van Zile into the box that dummy passed to Izzy Haverkampf and Anna Sturzl was on the back end of that. We just transitioned so quickly that West did not get back."
Rhinelander would experience a breakdown on defense moments later that resulted in Wausau West tying the game.
Sydney Zettler would get the game-winner just before the break, judging the win and placing a ball perfectly from 25 yards away.
"We talked before the game about taking shots and where to place shots based on the wind," Millot said.
"Her shot actually got hung up in the wind a little bit and played havoc on the keeper and she put it in the upper-righthand corner of the goal. It was a nice shot, just a nice shot that the keeper couldn't get to."
Rhinelander has three Great Northern Conference games this week to wrap up the regular season.
With the GNC title already wrapped up, the Lady Hodags intend to rest players in order to be fresh for the upcoming playoffs.
"Some of our girls are still banged up," Millot said. "Even though we have three games this week, we're going to rest some players this week and not give them a lot of playing time so that they can heal and be prepared for the playoffs. I'm guessing we're going to have a pretty tough game in the first round, depending how the seeding goes. I expect us to be somewhere near the middle of the pack, maybe a third seed. We can hope for a second, but I think that's going to be pushing it."
Rhinelander (16-3) hosts Medford on Monday before finishing the regular season with road tilts at Newman Catholic and Antigo.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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