May 10, 2021 at 8:35 a.m.
Hodag soccer closes out week with wins
Ella Schiek scores six goals in wins over Northland Pines, Merrill
Hodag soccer closes out week with wins
Senior Ella Schiek went on a tear, scoring a combined six times in two contests as the Hodags earned a 5-2 win on the road Thursday night at Northland Pines before defeating Merrill 2-0 in a road non-conference contest on Saturday.
Schiek, who also scored twice in the season opener against Mosinee, has eight goals so far in three games - two more than she scored in all of 2019.
"Ella's on fire. Her commitment right now is huge, on top of that her drive and willingness to help this team this year has been huge," Bates said. "She's been a great asset and a great captain to everyone on the team. I'm really proud of her."
Meanwhile the Hodags have started to get settled in with new personnel. After conceding a couple of first-half goals to Pines, the Hodags kept the Eagles off the board in the second half on Tuesday and then turned in their first shutout of the season on Saturday.
"They're coming together as a team very well," Bates said. "Communication has been a key the last couple of games. It's been really, really good. We still have some things to work on but we're very early on in the season and I think they're going to have a good season."
Rhinelander 5, Northland Pines 2
Ella Schiek scored four times, including all three goals in the second half, as the Hodags broke a 2-2 halftime deadlock to defeat the Eagles Thursday night in Eagle River.
Bates said it was a night-and-day improvement for his team compared to last Tuesday's opener against Mosinee, which Rhinelander won on penalty kicks, 3-2.
"The girls were moving the ball around the field extremely well tonight. They looked like a different team. We had a lot of opportunities right at the beginning of the game," he said.
Pines took the lead early in the match as Allison Kieffer converted a penalty kick following a Rhinelander handball foul inside its own penalty area. The Hodags answered as Ella Schiek knocked in a cross from McKenna Brown to square the match. McKenzie Mayo scored off a corner kick for the Eagles later in the first half, but Gwyn Lowry answered again for the Hodags, knocking in a shot from the top of the 18.
Ella Schiek took over in the second half with all three goals. Morgan Van Zile and Ava Lamers had assists.
"The girls were on fire," Bates said. "Between (Ella) and Ava and Gwyn and McKenna. They were dangerous together up there. They were working the ball beautifully - crosses, beautiful give-and-go runs. They were on fire."
Meanwhile, Bates said the team's defensive effort was better than the season opener against Mosinee.
"Audrey (Schiek) and Rachel (Steffen) in the back and Eleanor (Steffen) and Emma Chiamulera played absolutely beautifully," he said. "Abbey Henrichs today, she was our defensive center mid, floated around in there. We changed the formation up a little bit and Abbey was just on fire."
Northland Pines did manage 10 shots on goal in the contest. Kahile Arneson stopped five of the seven shots she faced. With a three-goal second half lead, Bates decided to put some of the reserves in, including backup keeper Lily Berger, who made three stops.
Rhinelander 2, Merrill 0
Saturday's final score belied how dominant the Hodags were in the contest. Rhinelander had the majority of the possessions and outshot the Bluejays 47-6 as they cruised to a win at Jay Stadium.
Despite 24 first-half shots, Rhinelander did not find the back of the net until Ella Schiek converted a penalty kick in the 41st minute. She scored again in the 70th minute, finishing a 2-on-1 from Ava Lamers.
"We had a little trouble on the finishing today but we also had a lot of good shots on frame that their goalkeeper did a pretty good job on," Bates said. "Communication was really good up top. The girls started to come around toward the end of the first half and started moving the ball down the field very well."
Rhinelander was without Brown, a speedy forward, due to injury. That meant the team had to put added emphasis on possession and ball movement in the attack.
"I've been working with the girls on their passing and possession," Bates said. "They pass, they move, they get open to space and they communicate. That's a big thing because not every team we'll be able to utilize speed, so we've got to start moving the ball up and down the field as a unit and we've been doing a lot of that at practice."
Meanwhile it was a quiet afternoon for Arneson in the Hodag goal. It took the Bluejays almost 29 minutes to muster their first shot of the game. Merrill never posed much of a scoring threat, putting only one shot on goal the entire match.
"We've got a lot of speed back there," Bates said. "We have some very, very aggressive players and they're doing very well. From the first game to now, the way that they're working back there in the formation, they've just been doing a great job."
Rhinelander has a pair of home games ahead. The team faces Kingsford, Mich. in a non-conference game tonight at Mike Webster Stadium. Kickoff is slated an hour earlier than usual at 6 p.m. The Hodags will play host to Antigo in a GNC matchup on Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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