May 16, 2018 at 2:32 p.m.
Docked dynasty
Ashland downs RHS 1-0 jeopardizing Hodags' GNC title streak
Docked dynasty
Ashland's Kaylee McPeak scored in the 21st minute and that was enough as the Oredockers knocked off the Hodags 1-0 in a battle of Great Northern Conference unbeatens.
Afterward, Ashland celebrated as if it had won the GNC title. Barring a major hiccup down the stretch, the Oredockers will do just that. Ashland pulled one game ahead of the Hodags with two games to play in the conference race. With each team mowing through the rest of the conference with ease, any stumble down the stretch by Ashland would be considered an upset.
While this was going on, the Hodags sat some 60 yards away, listening to the cheers and hollers, reflecting on the moment that could spell the end of their GNC domination.
"I had the team listen to that and we talked about it and I wanted them to remember what that feels like to have people celebrate on your field," RHS girls' soccer coach Dan Millot said. "We're two evenly matched teams. Again, they put one in and we didn't. What can you say."
It's the second time in three years Ashland has defeated Rhinelander in front of RHS. Back in 2016, the Oredockers snapped Rhinelander's 49-game unbeaten streak in GNC play.
The statistics were virtually dead even in the match. Both teams had nine shots on goal while Rhinelander had one more total shot and one more corner kick than the Oredockers. The difference: Ashland was able to convert on its best scoring chance while the Hodags were not.
McPeak snuck behind defender Madi Losch as she received a ball 30 yards from the Rhinelander goal. From there she outmaneuvered the Hodag sophomore into the box and, when defensive help was late in arriving, McPeak tucked an open look past keeper Kahlie Arneson.
Simply put, the most dangerous scoring threat in the Great Northern Conference this year got loose and made the Hodags pay dearly.
"She's a nice player and we defended that poorly," Millot said. "I think she dribbled through three of us. She stayed composed and she placed a shot ... I think our defense bent too much and broke in that situations, but it happens."
Ashland had a few other chances, but was thwarted the rest of the night by some solid play by the Hodag keepers. Arneson, back in goal for the first time since taking a ball to the head in pregame warmups a week earlier at Northland Pines, made seven saves in the match including several diving stops on hard shots.
Her last stop proved costly, however, as she came out to challenge a ball that put Ashland's Alex Pieterek on a run in the 67th minute. Arneson smothered the ball just in front of Pieterek nearly 12 yards from goal but appeared to inadvertently take a knee to the head by Pieterek and was unable to continue in the match.
Jada Appling replaced Arneson and made a strong save on a McPeak shot in the 73rd minute.
"The keepers did their job tonight," Millot said. "They really did. I don't know how many saves they recorded, respectively, but they stopped some really nice shots tonight. They did what they were supposed to do."
Rhinelander had several chances to equalize the match but placed the ball everywhere except the back of the net.
Anna Sturzl got free on a run in the 42nd minute, but rolled her breakaway chance straight to keeper Kaitlyn Zinnecker.
Defender Sam Stegmann stepped in front of Sturzl to deny a clean shot off a nice service by Gwyn Lowry in the 56th minute. Sturzl missed again wide right on an open look from the left side of the box in the 68th minute.
The Hodags had a flourish of activity in front of the net moments later. Alayna Franson got through, but Zinnecker got enough of her shot to deflect it wide in the 71st minute. Seconds later freshman Marissa Martin struck a strong shot from outside the box that Zinnecker deflected off the crossbar and the Hodags rolled the rebound weakly on goal for an easy save.
Kenedy Van Zile created space for herself to take a shot from 15 yards in the 80th minute, but tugged it left of the goal. Sturzl missed wide in the 86th minute and had another shot deflect wide off an Ashland defender's head in the 87th. Lowry's strong shot from 25 yards was stopped moments later, Rhinelander last real threat at the goal.
"We put a lot of shots on people and I'm waiting to find that true finisher," Millot said. "We have girls that at different times will finish but nothing's consistent."
While the Hodags are mathematically still alive for a seventh straight conference title, with destiny no longer in his team's control, Millot said his attention has turned to the WIAA playoffs which will commence May 31.
"We look to prepare for our second season. We look to see how much we can improve the next two weeks to make a deep run in the WIAA tournament series," he said. "We can't dwell on this game. There's things we did well tonight. There's things we didn't do well tonight but, if we dwell on it, we're going to get nowhere. We need to look at moving forward and that starts tomorrow."
The Hodags travel to Wausau Newman this afternoon before hosting New Richmond and Pulaski in an invite on Saturday at the Hanson Lake Soccer Complex.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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