October 5, 2020 at 4:06 p.m.
Hodag soccer sweeps Lakeland
RHS takes one-game lead in GNC race
Hodag soccer sweeps Lakeland
The Hodags vaulted back into sole possession of first place in the GNC Thursday night as a pair of early second-half goals proved to be the difference in a 3-1 victory over Lakeland at Mike Webster Stadium.
The win moved Rhinelander to 5-1-0 in conference play, a game ahead of Mosinee, which lost at home to Medford 2-1 on Thursday. The Hodags and Indians will meet twice in the next eight days, starting with a matchup this afternoon at Edgewood Park.
Lakeland, Medford and Northland Pines all sit two games back with four games remaining.
"The boys have been playing some great ball the last few games. Our intensity has just been off the charts," Rhinelander coach Nathan Bates said.
Hugh Wiese, Braden Mork and Beau Howard all scored for Rhinelander on Thursday in the most-lopsided result in the last seven meetings between the Hodags and Thunderbirds. The previous six contests were decided by one goal or ended in a draw.
Key to the victory, Bates said, was some changes in personnel from Tuesday night's game. Wiese and Tucker Frederickson, usually utilized in Rhinelander's attack, played most of Thursday's game on defense while Leo Losch drew the assignment of man-marking Lakeland's leading scorer, Yaroslav Myshchyshyn.
"Leo Losch, he shut down Yaroslav all night long. That's what his job was and he did a fantastic job of it. He, in my eyes, was the MVP of the night," Bates said. "We came out tonight with a good game plan. We switched some things up from the last game with them and it worked. Lakeland, hat's off to them, they're a great team. They've got a young team and they look great. I would consider them some of the toughest competition we've had all season."
After a first half hour that was predominantly a defensive struggle between the two sides, a defensive play finally got Rhinelander kick started offensively. Central defender Alexx Huff dispossessed Lakeland's Tyler Tharman at the edge of the defensive third in the 32nd minute and sent a pass out on the right flank for Hugh Wiese. The Hodags' leading scorer did the rest, beating the Lakeland defense up the flank, getting one-on-one with keeper Collin Quade and finishing inside the right post.
"That's what we talked about. We had Hugh and Tucker on the outsides," Bates said. "We wanted them working some runs up and down the field because Lakeland's middle part of the field is usually pretty well open. It gave them plenty of time to set up and attack and capitalize off of it."
The Hodags missed a chance to double the lead moments later when Mork was unable to convert on a penalty kick after getting pushed down in the Lakeland box, but the Rhinelander sophomore made up for it in the 54th minute, with a rainbow from the outside off a throw in by Matthew King that found its way home from roughly 40 yards.
"Braden's deadly outside. You give him any time to set up a shot, he's going to hit it," Bates said.
Howard scored what looked to be the clincher just more than a minute later, getting behind the Lakeland defense following a slotted ball through the middle by Shane Petrick.
Lakeland tried to make things interesting late. Myshchyshyn recorded his eighth goal in conference play in the 68th minute, finishing a cross to the backside of the goal by Chandler Savel. The T-Birds had a few more chances as the offensive pressure intensified over the final 20 minutes, but Rhinelander's Gavin Ostermann stood tall, and recorded six saves in the win.
"They had a lot of pressure toward the end of the game," Bates said. "My guys were gassed. They put, in my opinion, the first 70 minutes, my guys gave 110% and they never stopped, and they started gassing out toward the end."
The victory concluded a grueling stretch to start the regular season for Rhinelander, which went 7-1-0 over a stretch of eight games in 17 calendar days. The Hodags got a well-deserved weekend off ahead of this afternoon's matchup at Mosinee.
"I'm pumped," Bates said of the brief respite in the schedule. "We have some boys here that need to get a little bit of rest."
Mosinee has the No. 1 offense in the GNC, with 23 goals scored in six games, while Rhinelander has the No. 1 defense with only four goals conceded.
"Mosinee, we'll see what happens," Bates said. "They've got some good attackers. We're going to go down there, business as usual. We're going to put some pressure on them and, hopefully, come through with a win."
With a win today the Hodags would move two games up in the conference race with three games to play. More importantly, it would also make the Hodags 5-0-0 in the first game played against each conference team. That's important because should the season be halted for any reason prior to the full GNC slate being played, the conference would consider only the first meeting between teams for the standings and the second game, if played, would be considered non-conference.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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