November 2, 2022 at 1:53 p.m.
Playing with house money
Rhinelander soccer embraces underdog role entering state semifinals
Playing with house money
It hears those who say that the team was lucky to survive three shootouts, including a bizarre ending against Rice Lake, to get down to the WIAA state tournament. It hears those who say the team's 11-2-6 record is not all that impressive because the quality of the soccer in the northern half of the state is not as good as it is down south. It hears those who give the fourth-seeded Hodags little to no shot this afternoon when it faces top-seeded Notre Dame in Milwaukee.
The Hodags hear all of that and, frankly, they don't care.
"We're welcoming the opportunity to prove ourselves at state," said Charlie Heck, one of four senior captains on this year's team. "We're going into that game fully betting on ourselves as the underdogs. We're letting everyone write us off as the underdog. We love that going into it. We're playing like we have nothing to lose."
In a way, the Hodags indeed have nothing to lose when they step on the field at the Uihlein Soccer Complex to face the Tritons (18-0-4) in the D3 state semifinals. Simply making it to the WIAA state tournament has fulfilled a dream that the players and head coach Nathan Bates have had as long as they have been playing together. Now, it's about enjoying the final game or games of an incredible ride.
"I take it as a win already making it to the state tournament right now," Bates said. "Anything beyond that is just a bonus. In my mind, right now, I'm extremely proud of my boys. I'm proud of how they've ended their season. They've exceeded every expectation and some from what I wanted from the season."
"All these years we're like, 'We're going to go to state some year,'" senior Braden Mork said. "It's a big goal, far to reach, but all of us - almost our entire starting lineup - has been playing since we were little kids. We've been playing together and that really correlates to our chemistry and our success this year."
The bonds run deep for most of the players and coaches on this Hodag team. Bates often refers to the squad as "my boys." He began coaching this group at the U8 level and moved up with them through the youth and middle school ranks. When longtime RHS coach Dan Millot retired following the 2018 season, Bates stepped in just as this year's group of seniors were freshmen.
They have all grown together on and off the field.
"I've known these kids since they were tiny and they've all known each other since that age. It's more of a family than a team, it really is. They're family," Bates said. "They've grown up to be best friends, which is what's truly special about this group of kids."
That's a bond even sensed by some of the newer players on the team. Leo Losch did not come out for the sport until his sophomore year of high school, but the athletic hockey and tennis player quickly developed a knack for making life difficult for an opponent's top offensive threat. Losch said it did not take long for him to figure out what makes this group click.
"One thing I've recognized about the soccer team in the past three years is that the guys have fun together," he said. "We crack jokes at practice. There's a lot of camaraderie on the team and I think, truthfully, that adds to our actual play on the field. I think, with that, we've become a better team because we're having fun.
"We've always had good players at Rhinelander High School ever since I've been here, but there's just something different when you've been playing with a certain group of guys since you were little," said senior Shane Petrick, who leads the team with 14 goals scored on the season. "Even the guys who've joined recently, like Leo, he still fit in right away and we have this chemistry. You can't beat it."
Rhinelander faces by far its toughest test to date against the Tritons, who were state runners-up twice in 2021. The Green Bay-area private school first made it to the D2 finals of the alternate fall season in the spring of the 2020-21 school year and then advanced to the championship game of the D3 tournament last fall, losing to Shorewood in penalty kicks. Notre Dame is the only team returning from last year's D3 state tournament.
"They're definitely a stout team. Their record shows it. Their many runs to the state tournament show it," Bates said. "They've got a great coaching staff. But they also have weaknesses. They're just another high school team like we are. Any given night any team can beat anybody. We're going to go into it and play our toughest game we can possibly can play and see how it shakes out in the end."
The Tritons' attack focuses primarily on forward/midfielder Emmett Lawton. The senior has accounted for more than half of Notre Dame's goals this season, scoring 38 times to go along with six assists. His running mate is forward Ian Noble, a junior who has 12 goals and four assists on the year. Those are the only two Triton players who have scored more than five goals on the year.
Senior Arturo Ottum-Cortez has played all but 35 minutes in goal for Notre Dame this season, going 16-0-4 with a 0.47 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. He's faced only 73 shots all season thanks to a stingy defense that has conceded more than one goal only once this season - a 3-2 win against Kimberly Sept. 17.
"They're a tough opponent. We're doing our homework and we're trying to put the puzzle together," Bates said.
The team admits the reality of qualifying for the program's first trip to the WIAA state tournament is still sinking in. It's a playoff run that has included vanquishing GNC rivals Lakeland and Medford in penalty kicks before knocking off Rice Lake in the sectional finals in a shootout that included two do-overs due to fan interference.
"I'm kind of still in shock, but it's slowly coming to my mind that it's actually happening," Petrick said. "It's awesome. I'm glad we could do it as a team."
Mork said, regardless of the outcome this weekend, reaching the state tournament is the realization of a dream.
"It's amazing that we're making it. It's going to be such a fun weekend. You never know, we could still come out with a big win," he said.
Should the Hodags pull off the upset, the would battle the winner of Friday night's second D3 semifinal between second-seeded New Berlin Eisenhower and third-seeded Wisconsin Dells for the gold ball on Saturday evening. The D3 championship game will conclude the state tournament proceedings with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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