May 28, 2021 at 11:22 a.m.
Hodag soccer falls to Lakeland 2-0 to begin GNC second round
Hodag soccer falls to Lakeland 2-0 to begin GNC second round
Leah Wolfe and Sophia Myshchyshyn both scored for the T-Birds, who walked away with a 2-0 victory over the Hodags in Great Northern Conference second round play Thursday night at IncredibleBank Field.
Still Bates said the Hodags had nothing to hang their heads over in regard to their performance against the second-place Thunderbirds.
"I'm not disappointed, at all, in any way, shape or form in how my girls performed tonight," he said. "They played great. We had some opportunities. We had some great shots. The goalkeeper had a beautiful save. It's just the way the chips fall sometimes. It is what it is."
Lakeland controlled the first half statistically, but had only one goal to show for it as Wolfe fired one past keeper Kahlie Arneson in the 24th minute to give the T-Birds the lead. Bates said it was a matter of a perfectly-placed ball by the Lakeland midfielder.
"The girl came down, it was a very weird angle, a very low-percentage shot and the ball curved right in," he said. "Kahlie went for it and it was just a little bit out of reach. It was a beautiful shot. I didn't think it was going in and it went in."
That's how the score remained until the 73rd minute when Myshchyshyn, Lakeland's leading goal scorer, took a couple of touches in the box to create separation and fired a shot past Arneson inside the right post.
"Sophia got a little break inside the 18. She made a cut and it gave her just enough opportunity to put one in," Bates said. "Sophia's deadly, just like her brother (Yaroslav). You give her any sort of room she's beautiful in finishing. I know that. The team knows that. The first half we pretty much shut her down. She didn't get many shots on us the whole first half."
Aside from Myshchyshyn's goal, the second half was virtually even. Arneson made a kick save on a Olivia Melka point-blank chance in the 56th minute and then watched as Melka's rebound chance sailed wide. The Hodag senior keeper, who made 16 saves in the match, also came up big in the 79th minute, denying Josie Wentland on a breakaway chance.
Meanwhile, Rhinelander put six shots on goal in the second half, all stopped by Naomi Hamerla, the conference's leader in save percentage. Ella Schiek was denied from the top of the 18 in the 58th minute off a through ball by McKenna Brown, Ava Lamers had a shot from 25 yards stopped in the 61st minute and Hamerla foiled Rhinelander's best scoring chance in the 78th minute as she made a diving save on a one-touch shot by Brown following a cross into the box by Kat Metropulos.
"We had a couple of runs here were Kat had a near miss. McKenna made a couple nice runs. Ava had a couple shots here. We just couldn't get one in," Bates said. "We definitely held them the second half and we had a lot of opportunities, we really did. Again, it seems like the second half we had the better had."
Lakeland held a 29-14 edge in shots overall, and an 18-7 advantage in shots on goal.
The loss ensured Rhinelander (4-5-1, 3-3-1-0 Great Northern) will finish no better than third in the final conference standings.
The Hodags are home to face Ashland this evening at Mike Webster Stadium and will close out the regular season Thursday night at home against Northland Pines. Rhinelander was defeated by the conference-leading Oredockers 7-0 in back on May 18. The Hodags beat Northland Pines 5-2 on May 6.
"We're going to come out. The girls are going to give 100%. They always seem to do it and we'll see what happens," Bates said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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