October 6, 2017 at 1:36 p.m.
Retaining the throne
Sabani's late PK gives Hodags 2-1 win over Pines, outright GNC title
Retaining the throne
The Hodags got a penalty kick from Jonus Sabani with less than three minutes to play and defeated the Northland Pines Eagles 2-1 in Eagle River to secure the crown for themselves.
A tie would have done just as well for the Hodags (14-3-2, 9-0-0 Great Northern) who were two games up on the second-place Eagles (9-7-0, 6-3-0 Great Northern) with two games remaining entering Thursday's play. But the Hodags weren't satisfied with a 1-1 result and called upon their newest secret weapon to help secure the victory.
Junior Anthony Kowalski, who started the season as a backup running back on the RHS football team before making the switch to soccer a few weeks ago, was tripped from behind inside the Northland Pines penalty box in the 88th minute, setting up Sabani's winner from the penalty spot.
"I just went out there and did what they told me to do," said Kowalski, who has received a crash course in the sport they call "the beautiful game" over the last few weeks.
That gave Sabani a chance at redemption after having one attempt at a go-ahead goal ring off the goalpost in the first half, a few shots turned aside and some other chances sail wide or high of the target.
"I just took my time," Sabani said. "I saw where the goalie was going. He was going right. I just took my time, slotted it into the left corner and did my best."
The Hodags did it all without their head coach, Dan Millot, on the sidelines. He was visiting his youngest son, Gunnar, at college. Richard Kotula and Sarah Lentini handled the coaching duties in Millot's absence. Lentini received the celebratory ice water bath at the end of the match, but Kotula said the Hodags fourth straight GNC title - and sixth in the last eight years - is all part of Millot's master plan.
"It says that coach Millot is doing an amazing job with this team. He works with the kids to keep the program strong, 'Hodag strong,'" he said, referencing the team's motto. "It just shows how much dedication he's putting into it and the result of it we can see by the team winning titles."
Freddy Wisner gave the Hodags an early jolt in the seventh minute with a shot in space from about 30 yards away that sailed over Northland Pines goalkeeper Colby Kruse's head and just under the crossbar.
"It was a smart play from Freddy," Kotula said of Wisner's goal. "He recognized the spacing. He recognized that Jonus was marked up and he figured out the position that Jonus was in on the left side was available, so he got into position, took a shot and it flew right over the keeper. It was a well-placed shot."
The lead was short-lived however, as Pines pushed forward in transition and Lochlan Siegmeier got off a rocket shot from inside the box to square the match in the 10th minute.
From there, the pressure was on the Hodag defense and keeper Josh Randolph to keep Pines from scoring again so Rhinelander could maintain its unbeaten conference mark and lock up sole possession of the championship.
"We played well," said captain and center back Alec Lowry, who has been a part of all four titles in Rhinelander's latest run. "I was really impressed with how positive we stayed. A lot of times we get frustrated because we have new people cycling into our back positions. But we did really well today staying (together) as a team.
"We got beat in the first 10 minutes, but we started learning from their style real quick. The boys really stepped up and played."
The majority of the scoring opportunities in the match belonged to Rhinelander, which outshot Northland Pines 28-11 overall and 17-4 in shots on goal. Still, the Hodags found it difficult to beat Kruse, a freshman who turned in a brilliant 15-save performance for the Eagles. Kruse made diving saves to rob Matthew Von Oepen of a goal in the ninth minute and to deny Wisner his second goal of the match in the 43rd. He was also up to the task in the 70th when Quinn Werner fired a hard shot from the right side of the box on a rebound following a shot by Sabani.
"The keeper for Pines today did an amazing job, amazing saves and came up big for them," Kotula said. "We could have probably scored three or four goals easily with hard shots coming from Jonus and Matthew, but their keeper was on it."
Late in the game, shortly after the junior varsity game ended on the adjoining field, the Hodags rolled the dice to put a couple of their fastest JV players - Kowalski and exchange student Fernando Montiel Duarte - up top in an effort to apply some late pressure. The gamble paid off.
"We didn't expect a foul. That's kind of a nice thing for a PK to happen, but we were expecting to put a little more speed up front to get the energy to score and win the game instead of just (settling) for a tie game," Kotula said.
The conference title is one big feather in the Hodags' cap, but a few more carrots remain. Thursday was Rhinelander's final game before next Wednesday's sectional seeding meeting. Dropping to D3 in a half-sectional that includes a number of Great Northern Conference schools, the Hodags hope they can parlay a conference title into a high seed for the tournament.
"This is fun and exciting for us as a team, but we still know there's a lot of work to be done," Lentini said. "We'll get a quick break here and then we'll be back at work."
Rhinelander closes out the regular season next Thursday at home against Medford.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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