May 21, 2018 at 5:37 p.m.
Defense does in Hodag soccer at home invite
Defense does in Hodag soccer at home invite
The Hodags started with a 4-2 loss to New Richmond Saturday at the Hanson Lake Soccer Complex and followed that with a 6-2 loss to Pulaski. In both games, a string of unanswered goals ultimately proved costly.
Rhinelander lead 2-1 at one point in the first half against Pulaski, but Jasmine Litt scored twice late in the first half for the Raiders and Pulaski pulled away in the second half.
"We made a lot of elementary defensive mistakes in the second half," Hodag coach Dan Millot said. "Offensively, we definitely played well enough to win the game. We had chances. We had opportunities, two nice goals in the first half. We had their defense back on their heels a little bit but, in the second half, we kind of just fell apart. You just learn from it."
Much the same could be said for the Hodags' opener against New Richmond. An Alayna Franson strike had Rhinelander up 1-0 five minutes into the match, but the Tigers answered with three goals before halftime and tacked on another in the second before the Hodags managed another offensive response.
Breakdowns early and late in the first half cost the Hodags against Pulaski. Gillian Holder was allowed a free run along the byline and slotted the ball to Litt for her first of four goals less than two minutes into the abbreviated 70-minute match.
After two long-range goals by Franson in the 14th and 19th minutes put Rhinelander ahead, Litt scored a similar goal to her first in the 26th minute, this time off a cross from Maggie Hernandez. Litt made it 3-2 Pulaski with less than five seconds remaining in the first half as she redirected a misplayed header by Hodag defender Payton Van Zile into the goal after the Hodags failed to clear the box on a corner kick.
"You look at the goals they scored (in the first half). The first one's scored less than 90 seconds in and the last is scored with basically no time left in the first half," Millot said. "You mentally have be ready to start and finish and we have yet to prove that we can do that for 90 minutes. Hopefully, with the playoffs coming, we can take care of that."
To make matters worse for the Hodags, a cold front swept through the area at halftime, switching the wind heavily in Pulaski's favor in the second half. Rhinelander outshot Pulaski 14-8 in the first half but Pulaski had the better of the shot column 16-4 in the second.
"The wind and the weather definitely had a factor on the game," Millot said. "Balls that were flighted (going toward the north goal) for Pulaski in the first half were just being knocked down for us."
Litt finished her haul in the 39th minute and the Raiders tacked on two more in the half.
Against New Richmond, Franson scored off a well-placed through ball by Anna Sturzl just five minutes into the match, but the Tigers controlled things from there. The Tigers drew level as Kacie Malone split the defense and scored in the 16th minute and took the lead in the 25th when keeper Jada Appling misplayed Jhette Gabriel's cross and inadvertently bobbled it into her own net.
Malone put New Richmond ahead 3-1 in the 34th minute as she beat the Hodag defense again and Anna Hopp tacked on a goal in the 78th and Rhinelander's Ella Schiek answered with a goal of her own in the 80th.
The results dropped Rhinelander to 8-6-0 on the season - and only one of those wins was against opponent outside the Great Northern Conference. The team is still searching for the right combination ahead of the WIAA playoff opener May 31.
"We're trying different people in positions and we still have two weeks before the playoffs. We're going to take every minute to try to solidify some people in some positions," Millot said.
Rhinelander closes the regular season Thursday at home against Antigo.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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