September 20, 2019 at 1:50 p.m.
Medford scores pair of controversial goals to beat Rhinelander 5-2
Medford scores pair of controversial goals to beat Rhinelander 5-2
Gabe Neubauer put in a controversial goal in the 78th minute, Onyi Ekwueme added a penalty kick in the 87th minute and Medford went on to a 5-2 win over the Hodags.
All square at two, the game took an unexpected bounce, quite literally, with less than 13 minutes to play. A Medford shot from the top of the 18-yard-box sailed high and caromed off an object back to Neubauer for a rebound goal.
Rhinelander argued that the object the ball hit was the crossbar for the football goalpost on Medford's dual-use field, which is out of play, and that the Hodags should have been awarded a goal kick. The officiating crew of Steven Homeyer, Ronald Todryk and Jeff Vaughter were unable to reach the same conclusion, awarding Medford the goal following a lengthy discussion.
Minutes later it appeared that Ekwueme initiated contact with Rhinelander keeper Gavin Ostermann after Ostermann picked up a loose ball, however the same crew deemed that Ostermann initiated the contact and awarded Medford a penalty kick, which Ekwueme deposited in the top right corner.
"Unfortunate couple of calls by the refs, I don't ever say that," Rhinelander coach Nathan Bates said. "One ball bounced off the cross-member of the (football) goalpost. It wasn't turned around, even the AD (Andy Guden) said he apologizes for it. That kind of changed things there. Then we had another late penalty kick on us for some odd reason. The goalkeeper and the player, they hit and, for whatever reason, we got the call against us for a penalty kick. After that, it was too late in the game to make it up."
Neubauer, who scored four times in the game, tacked on one more goal for good measure in the 88th minute as the Raiders outscored the Hodags 4-1 over the final 17 minutes of the match and picked up their first win over Rhinelander since 2011.
The Hodags were visibly agitated following the late turn of events.
"It's hard. The kids get emotional after that because they are so intense into the game - especially today because they fought so hard," Bates said. "It's hard for the players, hard for the coaches to keep them motivated, but you have to try your best, tell them to push forward. If there's time left on the clock anything can happen."
The game was scoreless at halftime, but the intensity quickly picked up early in the second half. Neubauer got through the Rhinelander defense in the 56th minute, scoring on a breakaway to put Medford in front, but Rhinelander answered back in the 60th minute with a strike from Hugh Wiese roughly 12 yards from goal.
Neubauer was at it again in the 63rd minute, scoring on a play similar to his first goal. That lead lasted until early in the 74th minute when Joseph Heck sent in a cross from the left flank that put Daniel Ritchie on a run past the Medford defense. After outmaneuvering the goalkeeper, Ritchie won a foot race to the goal with a Raider defender and tapped in the equalizer.
"We saw right away that we had their defense beat with some speed on our team," Bates said. "It was hard to pull Daniel out of the defensive line because he does so great up there and Medford has two hotshots up there as well. At that point of the game, we had to move some things around to put some goals in and we did."
Medford had the better of play in the first half, outshooting Rhinelander 12-3, but did not have any goals to show for its efforts. Overall, Medford had a 24-11 edge in shots and a 12-5 advantage in shots on goal.
A chippy affair between the sides featured 22 foul calls and a total of six yellow cards issued. Five of those cards - three on Rhinelander, two on Medford - were handed out following Neubauer's controversial 78th-minute tally.
"It got really out of hand," Bates said. "I don't like talking about the officiating, but they let it get way out of hand. When that happens, the kids emotions get into it and they decide to quit playing soccer and start playing physical. It's the referee's job to keep the game under control and it got unfortunate here. I don't know how many yellow cards there were. It was a lot. Unfortunately it got like that and what a shame."
The loss dropped Rhinelander to 1-2-2 in Great Northern Conference play, tied for fourth out of the six teams in the conference halfway through the season. The second half of the conference season begins at home next Thursday against conference-leading Northland Pines.
"There's still a lot of conference left and the conference has been all over the board," Bates said. "Are we exactly where we want to be? We're not, but the kids are improving every single game."
Rhinelander will host Marshfield in a non-conference game at Mike Webster Stadium Tuesday evening.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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