June 8, 2018 at 12:05 p.m.
Heading to Hayward
Hodags blast New London 10-0, will face Rice Lake in sectional final
Heading to Hayward
Franson scored six goals, and Sturzl added two goals and three assists, as the Hodags lambasted New London 10-0 in a WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal.
The win moves Rhinelander one game away from the WIAA state tournament. The Hodags will take on last year's D3 state qualifier, Rice Lake, today in Hayward with a trip to Milwaukee on the line.
At one point, Franson scored five straight goals. She and Sturzl played a role in every goal except the Hodags' last one as Rhinelander turned what was supposed to be its most difficult playoff test to date into a romp.
"We came into this game really prepared because it's been a huge goal of ours all season to get to the state tournament," Franson said afterward. "We practiced knowing this was going to be a hard game. We had to come in with the mindset to win 50-50 balls, play really intense at the start and we executed."
Franson and Sturzl made the game seem anything but hard. Sturzl finished a shot from the byline after Franson tapped it to her on a corner kick in the ninth minute. From there, the two displayed the chemistry of teammates who have been playing together since kindergarten.
"As a tandem, they're tough to stop," Hodag coach Dan Millot said.
Franson got off a shot in space in the 21st minute to put Rhinelander ahead 2-0 and scored again from 15 yards off a Sturzl drop pass in the 29th minute. The two would hook up again for connections in the 40th and 41st minutes and Franson added one more in the 44th as the Hodags took a 6-0 lead at halftime.
New London's defensive unit seemed content to not let the two beat it with their speed. That strategy proved to be a double-edged sword as Franson and Sturzl scored at will when given the slightest opening to shoot from long range.
"I feel like after we scored the first few goals they kind of backed off and they kind of gave up," Sturzl said. "We just kept up the intensity, the whole team did. I'm very proud of everybody on the team."
Franson got loose on the left flank seconds into the second half and slotted the ball to Brooke Mork for a tap in that put Rhinelander head 7-0 in the 46th minute. Franson capped off her scoring spree in the 53rd. Sturzl scored once more for good measure in the 58th minute and freshman Gwen Lowry ended proceedings with a goal in the 83rd minute.
It was Rhinelander's second straight 10-0 result in the playoffs. The Hodags have won their last four games, outscoring their opponents 37-0 in the process.
Millot said it was his team's best game to date, but noted the team still hasn't played its best soccer - a scary proposition heading into today's sectional final.
"There were some things that when you were watching the game, there were times where we held onto the ball too long and times we got a little bit sloppy and our play was slow," he said. "But this is what I really liked about tonight - we played as a team. We supported one another. I thought our defense played extremely well."
New London had a couple of chances to make it a game midway through the first half. Lindsey Spoehr went on a run on the right flank in the 20th minute, but defender Madi Losch recovered and blocked Spoehr's shot attempt.
A minute later Spoehr attempted to put teammate Paige Faucher on a through ball but freshman keeper Kahlie Arneson covered the ball before Faucher could get off a shot.
New London, which was outshot 38-6 in the match, had only one other quality scoring chance to speak of. That came in the 59th minute as backup keeper Jada Appling stopped a direct free kick from 20 yards by Marissa Messina.
"Our defense shut any attack down, and pretty handily. I thought their best scoring chance that they had was on a free kick outside our box. That really didn't amount to much either," Millot said.
Rice Lake ahead
The enticing prospect of a rematch between the Great Northern Conference's two heavyweights in a sectional final disappeared Thursday as third-seeded Rice Lake upset top-seeded Ashland 2-1 in the other sectional semifinal.
Though the Warriors come in with a sub-.500 record overall (8-9-3), they qualified for state last year, defeating Lakeland 6-1 in the sectional final round. Millot certainly took note that the Warriors jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Ashland - which ended Rhinelander's six-year run atop the GNC this spring - and held on for the win.
"Ashland beat us so everyone's going to have to look at the fact that we're going to be the underdogs going into that game," he said. "We love that position, being the underdogs, and we're going to have to take our game to them."
Aside from Rice Lake's win over Ashland, Rhinelander has had the better results against common opponents this season. The Warriors defeated Lakeland 4-1 in the tournament opener, a team Rhinelander beat 5-0 to open GNC play. Rice Lake suffered a pair of 1-0 losses to Chippewa Falls in Big Rivers Conference play. The Hodags defeated the Cardinals 6-0 at the D.C. Everest Invite on May 12.
According to WisSports.net, Ella Weber leads Rice Lake with 13 goals scored, though those stats include only 12 of Rice Lake's 20 games played this season. Much like Thursday's game against New London, the Hodags will go into today's sectional final match with little advance scouting on their opponent.
"I will get that recon and we'll be prepared to play," Millot said.
"We just have to keep up the intensity," Franson added. "That was the key coming into this game. We wanted to come up with high pressure and get them down right away. That's the mindset we needed to come into Saturday with."
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. in Hayward.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.