September 14, 2020 at 8:12 a.m.
Team Preview: RHS boys' soccer
Hodags seeking return to top of GNC
Team Preview: RHS boys' soccer
The Hodags took third in the GNC in 2018 and fell to fourth in the six-team league in 2019 with a record of 3-8-6 overall.
Still, with a number of key pieces returning from last year's squad, and a fair amount of turnover in the GNC, second-year Hodag coach Nathan Bates said he's optimistic that his team can return to the top of the conference table.
"There's a lot of emphasis on the conference right now," Bates said at practice last week. "The boys want it. Me and our coaching staff want it as well. If I'm going to bet on anybody, I'm going to bet on my boys. That's who I'm going to go with. They all want it real bad and, in the offseason, they've put in a lot of work and conditioning."
The Hodags will kick things off tonight at home against Antigo, part of a condensed slate that will see the team play 13 times over 31 days due to the delayed start of the season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rhinelander lost six seniors from last year's squad, but brings back five of its six All-GNC selections from a season ago - the second most in the conference behind only co-champion Medford.
The Hodags figure to be a strong defensive outfit this year, considering that most of the returning all-conference talent will be stationed in the back of the team's formation. Junior keeper Gavin Ostermann is back for his second season between the goalposts. He went 3-8-6 overall last year with a .813 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average. Also back are all-conference honorees senior Joseph Heck, junior Alexx Huff and sophomore Charlie, who are slated to make up three-fourths of the Hodags' defensive line. Rhinelander's defense improved tremendously during the second half of last season, allowing only two goals during the final five conference contests. Joseph Heck was also the team's leader in assists last year with four.
"Gavin's a heck of a goalkeeper and he's still got a couple of years left in him in the high school career of his," Bates said. "He's top-notch. Gavin, a lot of things don't get past him. We'll see how he goes this year. We've got the Heck boys back there together, both of them returning and we also have Alexx Huff back there. The other position back there for our four is undetermined right now. We have three determined 100% in the back but we don't have the fourth yet."
The Hodags also bring back their top returning scorer from last year, and a unanimous first-team All-GNC pick, in senior midfielder Hugh Wiese. He led the team with eight goals and two assists a season ago. The biggest question will be who steps up and helps an offense that was fifth in the league last year in scoring, with only 21 goals overall in 17 matches.
Harrison Shinners and Nicholas St. Pierre, who each scored three times last season, both graduated. That leaves junior forward Beau Howard (2 goals) as the only player other than Wiese who returns after scoring multiple goals a season ago.
Bates said he's counting on Howard and sophomore Shane Petrick to provide pressure up front, while junior Tucker Frederickson and sophomores Braden Mork and Andrew Henrichs join Wiese in the midfield. Mork had the most productive season of that group last year with a goal and three assists.
"Hugh's been in the top scorers in the conference the last couple years. This year, again, I anticipate we're going to see something out of Beau and Shane as well," Bates said. "We have quite a few kids up there between Tucker, Hugh, Shane and Beau. All four of them are extremely deadly when it comes to shooting and getting in the box. They all have footwork, great speed and they don't know the word quit, which is a great thing out of them too."
It took some time for the Hodags to come together last season. Rhinelander was 1-7-2 in its first 10 games before finishing 2-1-4 over the final seven contests, including a penalty kick loss to Lakeland in the first round of the WIAA tournament that officially counted as a tie for record-keeping purposes.
With the Hodags playing 2 to 3 matches per week during the condensed season, there will not be a lot of time to gel, a problem aggravated by the limited group contact the team had during the offseason due to the pandemic. With plenty of parity expected in the conference this year, Bates said the race may be decided by which team gels the fastest on the field.
"That's going to be the big thing, what teams are going to gel the quickest," he said. "The majority of my boys have been playing together for some time. With my JV squad coming up, it kind of bring backs our traveling team that has had a lot of success over the year. The boys are all getting back together and these kids, they've been a part for about a year now. Other than that, the majority of them have been playing together since they were young. Let's see if they can pick up where they left off a year ago."
Rhinelander should find out quickly where it stands in the conference race. After tonight's opener against Antigo, three of the team's next four contests will come against last year's conference co-champs -Medford and Northland Pines. The regular season concludes Oct. 15 at Medford. What sort of postseason tournament or culminating event will take place has yet to be determined by the WIAA.
Regardless of how the results on the pitch play out this year, Bates said the team's goal is to be a more cohesive unit than it was last season.
"I want them to play well together as a team," he said. "I want them to keep their heads in the game together. Last year we had a little difficulty with that. We had some turmoil. This year I want them to play together as a team, win together, lose together and everything's going to be done together this year."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.