November 21, 2017 at 1:02 p.m.
Team review: RHS boys' soccer
Strong season leads to greater expectations for Hodag soccer
Team review: RHS boys' soccer
The Hodags went 16-4-2, won their fourth consecutive Great Northern Conference title and advanced to the sectional semifinal round of the WIAA tournament for the first time since 2008.
"It was a very successful season for our program," coach Dan Millot said during the team's banquet earlier this month. "We had a very excellent year. It didn't necessarily end the way we wanted it to end, but we can't keep looking back and say 'what if.' We had a great season."
Here are five story lines from the recently completed season.
Dynamic offense
With 40 goals in Great Northern Conference play, and 65 goals overall, the Hodags possessed the No. 1 offense in the GNC, with a pair of juniors leading the charge.
Jonus Sabani was named the conference's offensive player of the year while running mate Matthew Von Oepen was a first-team all-GNC pick. The duo led the GNC in scoring with 42 and 27 points, respectively.
Overall, Sabani had 31 goals and nine assists on the season while Von Oepen had 16 goals and 13 helpers.
"Those two have been playing together for a long time and I think what you are seeing are the fruits of their labor," Millot said.
Dominant defense
The Hodags also possessed the conference's stingiest defense, allowing only seven goals in 10 conference games and 28 goals overall.
"We've had a stingy defense for some time," Millot said. "I know out of conference we gave up more goals than we would have liked but in conference, I think we had 50 percent fewer goals than everyone else."
Conference defensive player of the year Alec Lowry anchored the Hodags' back four from his central defender position. Ryan Roberts emergence allowed the team to move Joseph Schmitz to defensive mid. Another senior, Darin Bloomquist, and sophomore Nicholas St. Pierre rounded out a unit that, for the most part, kept pressure off junior goalkeeper Josh Randolph.
When Randolph was tested, he fared well and was voted the conference first-team keeper. He went 16-4-2 overall on the season with a 1.29 goals against average and a .826 save percentage.
Cardiac kids
Though the Hodags went undefeated in the Great Northern Conference, it was not an easy ride at times.
Rhinelander had its back against the wall in the second half on four separate occasions during the conference season and responded each time.
Mosinee gave the Hodags the most fits in conference play this season. Trailing 1-0 to the Indians in a Sept. 7 match at Edgewood Park, the Hodags tied the game on a Sabani goal with nearly 20 minutes remaining and took the lead on Daniel Ritchie's tracer in the 87th minute to pull off a 2-1 result. Sabani scored twice in the final 15 minutes when the teams met again four weeks later in Rhinelander as the Hodags won 3-2.
Sabani broke a 1-1 tie with a 88th- minute penalty kick as the Hodags defeated Northland Pines 2-1 Oct. 5 in Eagle River to clinch the GNC title outright and scored twice in the final 19 minutes to defeat Medford 2-1 Oct. 12 and finish 10-0-0 in the conference.
Playoff push
Rhinelander's strong regular season netted the Hodags a No. 1 seed in their Division 3 regional. Fast starts propelled the Hodags to their first regional title in nine years. Rhinelander scored four times in the first 20 minutes to defeat Medford 4-0 in the opener and twice before the half hour mark as they held off Clintonville 2-1 in the regional championship.
The luck ran cold, however, in the sectional semifinal against second-seeded Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia. Despite outshooting the Falcons 36-15, the Hodags struggled to finish and Amherst capitalized on three breakaway chances to end the Hodags' season with a 3-1 defeat.
"We didn't execute our game plan and if we're going to beat good teams and if we want to continue to go further in these types of tournaments, then we need to execute the game plans we set out to do," Millot said afterward.
What's next
Expectations are already high for the Hodags entering 2018. Sabani and Von Oepen will return for their senior seasons and the Hodags will return five of their eight all-conference selections from this season.
"We have a lot returning, especially on the offensive side of the ball and at least two returning on the defensive side of the ball," Millot said, noting the biggest voids will be on the defensive side with the graduation of Lowry, Schmitz, Bloomquist and Roberts.
A fifth-straight GNC title will certainly be an objective, but Millot set a higher bar during the team's banquet.
"I'm hoping that we're going to the state tournament," he said.
To get there, Millot encouraged his players to form a traveling team next summer under the Rhinelander Soccer Club banner and to make the most of any soccer opportunities in the offseason. "If we seriously want to take the next step to get through the sectionals and into the state tournament - and make a good appearance in the state tournament - we need to improve our game 100 percent," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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