May 31, 2017 at 1:11 p.m.
Rematch opportunities abound for RHS in soccer playoffs
Hodags open D2 tourney tonight at home against Marshfield
Rematch opportunities abound for RHS in soccer playoffs
Rhinelander's road to Milwaukee begins tonight as the Hodags host Marshfield in a battle between the third and sixth seeds in a WIAA regional semifinal match at Mike Webster Stadium.
The potential exists for every playoff matchup to be a rematch of a regular season contest for the Hodags, who defeated Marshfield 4-2 April 29 at Griese Park. Pulaski, Green Bay Southwest and River Falls - the teams responsible for the "3" in Rhinelander's 19-3-0 record - could be in the offing and Hodag coach Dan Millot knows his side will have to come loaded for bear.
"We need to take our game up another two notches or so, so we can compete with everyone else that plays in tougher conference," Millot said last Thursday, after the Hodags finished an undefeated Great Northern Conference slate with a 10-0 victory over Antigo. "That's really the ultimate goal is to get to the state tournament and we need to pick it up some notches."
As much as the Hodags want another shot at some other teams deeper in the bracket, Millot said the Hodags cannot overlook the Tigers (6-12-1, 5-7-0 Wisconsin Valley.)
"Marshfield is a tough team," he said. "I don't think there's anybody in our sectional that you can take for granted. They got some nice players and we're going to have to play our best."
The Tigers were tied for fourth in the WVC with 15 goals scored in 12 conference games. They conceded 34, the third-worst total in the Valley, while using a platoon of goalkeepers. Andrea Carolfi and Wendy Rodriguez had a virtual 50/50 split of the minutes during Valley play. Carolfi was 4-5-0 with a 2.98 goals against average and a .672 save percentage in 574 minutes of work. Rodriguez was 1-2-0 with a .267 GAA and a .758 save percentage over 506 minutes.
Two players did the bulk of the scoring for Marshfield this season. Nina Hashimoto scored eight of the Tigers' 15 goals in Valley play. Maddie Haesely had four. Those also were the two players to score for the Tigers' in their loss to the Hodags back in April.
"They do have some speed and they do like to attack in numbers," Millot said. "I do think they have some weak areas that we can exploit, but we need to be patient about it. We can't rush things."
Rhinelander also had two players do the scoring in that contest. Junior Alayna Franson and senior Sydney Zettler had goals to give the Hodags a 2-1 lead at halftime and then broke open a tie late in the second half - with Zettler netting the game-winner and Franson adding insurance in the Rhinelander's two-goal triumph.
After wrapping the GNC title with three games remaining, the Hodags were able to kick back, rest some starters and fine-tune their game heading into the postseason. Millot said he expect Rhinelander to be a healthier side than it was for the first meeting with Marshfield.
"I think the one thing nice is we didn't have (defender) Lauren Fabich the first time we played. I don't even think we had (outside midfielder) Anna Sturzl the first time we played," he said. "We'll have both of them for this game. We're healthier, we're stronger and we'll see what happens."
Sturzl missed much of the first half of the season with a leg injury while Fabich went out 10 minutes into the Pulaski game back on April 8 with a knee injury and missed nearly a month of action.
Pulaski, the second seed in the bracket, will be Rhinelander's likely opponent Saturday in the regional finals, should the Hodags advance. The Red Raiders won the first matchup 5-1. Green Bay Southwest drew the No. 1 seed and could be the sectional semifinal host. Rhinelander lost to the Trojans 1-0 back on April 7 and had a lightning-shortened 1-0 loss to River Falls - the No. 2 seed on the other side of the sectional - in Eau Claire May 5.
"We've got to beat Marshfield first and then we'll see who comes out of that game with Pulaski (and Merrill) and go from there," Millot said. "We've got to take it one game at a time. You've got to beat everyone to get there. So let's hope we can go Marshfield, Pulaski, Southwest."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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