May 16, 2022 at 3:15 p.m.
Hodag soccer's winning streak ends at Everest Invite
Hodag soccer's winning streak ends at Everest Invite
After defeating Antigo 13-1 on Thursday, the Hodags saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end with a 1-0 loss to Onalaska Friday afternoon in Weston. Saturday morning, a weary Hodag team lost 4-0 to Holmen to complete its fourth game in five days.
"The girls played well against some tough competition," Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. "We didn't in my mind, get blown out by anybody. I think if we would play this team fresh, it would be a better game than it was this morning."
A penalty kick proved to be the difference Friday afternoon against the Hilltoppers. Mallory Meighan converted from the spot in the 22nd minute for the game's lone goal after a Hodag foul inside its own penalty area.
Statistics were virtually identical in the match, with Onalaska possessing slight edges in total shots (13-11) and shots on goal (9-6).
"Yesterday was a great game. It was unfortunate. We had a penalty and they were able to capitalize on it," Bates said. "Otherwise the girls played well. It wasn't a one-sided game by no means. We had our fair share of attacks, they had theirs."
A couple of scoring spurts proved to be the difference Saturday morning as the Vikings wore down the Hodags. Holmen scored two goals in a roughly two-minute span midway through the first half to take the lead, and then tacked on two more goals in the second half to pull away.
Liv Schneider knocked home a loose ball off a corner kick in the 26th minute as Rhinelander keeper Mya Krouze could not come up a ball that was served to the head of Nora Lee inside the 6-yard box. Lee set up Ella Lachecki on a run through the middle of the defense a short time later. Lachecki beat Krouze to keeper's right to make it a 2-0 Viking lead.
Alaina Hemker capitalized when Krouze could not come up with a free kick in the box in the 49th minute. She tapped home the loose ball ahead of a clearance attempt by Rhinelander defender Audrey Schiek. Lee then got behind the Hodag defense in the 64th minute and converted a breakaway goal off a send up the middle by Schneider.
"Holmen came out fresh. It was their first game of their series this weekend," Bates said. "They're a great team. They moved the ball very well. Our defense in the beginning of the game played very scared with them in a way I guess to put it. They played reserved where they were dropping back too much instead of pressing up. Once our defense was able to start pressing a little higher, we had a lot more opportunities on their end of the field."
Though Rhinelander was outshot 24-11 in the match, the did have a few good looks. Navaeh Rappley appeared to convert a breakaway chance in the 12th minute, but the goal was disallowed as Rhinelander was deemed to have a player offsides.
Rappley nearly deflected home another chance in the 22nd minute as she blocked a clearance attempt by Holmen keeper Ava Foster, but Foster was able to recover and make the save.
Ava Lamers missed just over the crossbar on a free kick chance from 40 yards in the 37th minute and rang a shot off the crossbar in the 72nd minute. Sophie Miljevich also struck the woodwork in the 50th minute, sending a service from Lamers off the right post.
Rhinelander 13, Antigo 1
The Hodags struck like lightning Thursday afternoon at Antigo. Then, after lightning actually struck, Rhinelander waited out a weather delay and rolled the Red Robins 13-1 at Listle Field.
Rhinelander was already up 3-0 in the ninth minute when approaching thunderstorms halted action. Play resumed following a nearly two-hour delay and the Hodags tacked on six more goals to take a 9-0 lead at halftime before scoring four more times under fading light in the second half to end the game at the 60-minute mark via the 10-goal rule.
"I thought the girls would be pretty sluggish coming back out there, but they were not," Bates said. "They came out right away and started putting goals in the back of the net within minutes. They were working the ball well up and down the field together."
Lamers scored four times and had four assists in the game and Miljevich scored three times as Rhinelander outshot Antigo 40-5.
Miljevich and McKenna Brown scored 32 seconds apart in the second minute to give Rhinelander a quick 2-0 lead and Lamers tacked on another in the fifth minute before the storms arrived.
Rhinelander scored three times right away following the resumption of play with goals from Brown, Morgan Van Zile and Miljevich. Schiek moved into the attack and scored in the 19th minute before goals by Lamers in the 24th and 30th minutes give Rhinelander a 9-0 lead at halftime. Lamers scored again in the 41st minute to round out her four-goal night. Miljevich, Van Zile and defender Eleanor Steffen had Rhinelander's other second-half goals.
Antigo broke Rhinelander's streak of seven straight games with a shutout on an Anna Evans' tally in the 45th minute.
Much of the game was played in extremely wet conditions following the thunderstorms that rolled through Antigo during the weather stoppage.
"It was really difficult. The whole field was underwater," Bates said. "It wasn't like it was just wet, it was underwater. There was standing water throughout the whole field. As messy and muddy as the game was, the girls had a blast. They had a great time. Even in the rain delay, they had a really great time, dancing in the school. The girls had a great game and played well together. We had a lot of fun today."
Big week ahead
Rhinelander (12-4-0, 7-0-0 Great Northern) travels to Northland Pines this afternoon ahead of a rematch against Lakeland Thursday night in Minocqua. Should the Hodags get by the Eagles tonight in regulation, it would set up an opportunity for Rhinelander to clinch the GNC outright with either a regulation or shootout win over the T-Birds.
The Hodags defeated Lakeland 1-0 in Rhinelander April 28. Bates said he hoped the tough contests over the weekend prepared his side for the stretch run.
"Any time you play tougher competition going into the tougher games, it's going to help us," he said. "The girls, lately, have not had a lot of competition that they've been playing. Not downing any of our (opponents), but our girls are just on a different level than a lot of the teams we've been playing. I think it's going to help us dramatically going out there, playing physical and being able to work the ball."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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