April 20, 2022 at 1:15 p.m.
Hodag soccer cruises past Wausau East
Hodag soccer cruises past Wausau East
McKenna Brown scored twice and the Hodags pulled away with four second-half goals to defeat Wausau East 5-1 in non-conference play Tuesday night at Mike Webster Stadium.
Rhinelander (4-2-0, 1-0-0 Great Northern) has won four in a row after dropping its first two games of the season and, according to coach Nathan Bates, continues to round into form.
"They are clicking very good," he said. "They've got good team chemistry and I'm proud of every one of them. They're all playing (well)."
Brown had the lone tally of the first half as she got on the end of a passing combination by Ava Lamers and Anna Schoppe, got behind the defense and converted a breakaway chance from close range in the 28th minute.
Brown scored again in the 54th minute for Rhinelander in similar fashion. This time, freshman Leah Weigel put Brown on a ball through the East defense and the Hodag senior did the rest for her 10th goal of the season. By comparison, Brown had only four goals last year in an injury-plagued campaign.
"She's aggressive. She's fast. She's got good shot placement," Bates said. "She's just a helluva player all around. She's a great kid."
Freshman Sophie Miljevich tallied her fourth goal in the last three games, as she gained possession of a loose ball just inside the Wausau East box and converted a one-touch shot to the top righthand corner of the goal. Her score made it 2-0 in the 46th minute.
Weigel also had an opportunistic tally in the 57th minute when senior Kaylee Pontell was stopped on a chance inside the Wausau East box. Weigel controlled the rebound and, with goalkeeper Ollie Liss's-Gravemade out of position, tapped it into the open net.
"They were at the right place at the right time and did exactly what they're trained to do," Bates said of his freshman forwards Miljevich and Weigel. "They're working well. I look forward to seeing what they do in the future, too. They're both amazing young players and great players."
Ava Lamers capped off Rhinelander's scoring in the 66th minute as she won a loose ball at the edge of the attacking third, dribbled past a couple of defenders and converted the breakaway chance.
East scored its lone goal a short time later as Francesca Angiulli tucked a shot inside the right post from 20 yards in the 67th minute. It was Wausau East's only shot on goal the entire match.
Otherwise, Rhinelander stifled the East attack, outshooting the Lumberjacks 34-2 overall.
"Our defense tonight, hat's off to all of them. Our defense clicked very well tonight," Bates said. "They did a great job. Our defense played their game and they shut them down quick. I'm very, very proud of the hard work our defense had been putting in, Audrey back there leading her defense as a senior. They're doing a great job."
Rhinelander now jumps into a tough stretch of games on three consecutive days. It started with a Great Northern Conference matchup at home last night against Antigo that concluded after deadline. The Hodags travel to Three Lakes this afternoon and will host Merrill in non-conference play on Saturday.
"We're going to go in and take every team seriously, like we did tonight," Bates said. "We're going to start off with Antigo and, if our girls continue to play how they're doing, we're going to be competitive with every team we play this season."
While the plan is to play Saturday's game outside at Mike Webster Stadium, the start time for the non-conference contest against the Bluejays has been moved from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. so as to not interfere with Nicolet College commencement exercises, which will take place Saturday morning in the adjacent Hodag Dome.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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