November 22, 2022 at 10:45 a.m.
Team Review: RHS boys' soccer
Hodags go out on top with state berth
Team Review: RHS boys' soccer
Ultimately, though, the season will be remember as a culmination.
Rhinelander finally broke through the glass ceiling, qualifying for the WIAA state tournament for the first time in program history. The team had to avenge a number of heartbreaks - both from this season and the past four seasons - along the way. All of that was before a wild shootout in which, for a moment, the team thought it had fallen one step short.
Though the season ended in a soggy 2-1 loss to Notre Dame in the Division 3 semifinals, simply making it to state was the realization of a dream that coach Nathan Bates had when he began working with this group at the U8 level.
"We've seen it all along. They're a special group of kids and turned out to be like my own kids. I'm very proud of them," Bates said after the Hodags won the sectional title. "I've been saying since Day 1 that they're special and they'd make it to state some day. My prediction was right. I'm very proud of them."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Conference play
GNC rivals Medford and Lakeland played the roles of antagonists throughout the season.
The conference opener was both deja vu and foreshadowing for the Hodags as they fell in a penalty kick shootout to Medford, 6-5, after the sides played to a 1-1 draw in regulation.
Medford defeated Rhinelander in penalty kicks to end the 2021 season and the teams would have another, more important, shootout at Raider Field come October.
Lakeland and Medford handed Rhinelander their only two losses of the regular season, both were defeats in which the team struggled to contain two of the conference's top offensive players - Zach Rudolph for the Raiders and Yaroslav Myshchyshyn for Lakeland.
Bates was critical of his team's play in the Sept. 8 loss at Lakeland and Rhinelander's hopes of a conference title were all but eliminated after a 3-0 loss to Medford put the Hodags essentially two games behind in the standings with four games to play.
"Medford had our number, apparently, and right now I'm not focused on conference any more," Bates said following the Sept. 22 loss to the Raiders. "It's trying to finish the season strong and move on to the playoffs."
Prevailing in PKs
There were some highlights down the stretch in the regular season for Rhinelander. The Hodags avenged their early season loss to Lakeland with a 2-0 win Oct. 4. Two days later, in Mosinee, Rhinelander prevailed in a game that would foreshadow its postseason run. After playing to a scoreless tie at Mosinee, the Hodags took the shootout 3-1 for an extra conference point.
Rhinelander got comfortable with PKs in a hurry. After defeating Ashland 4-0 to open the WIAA playoffs, the Hodags downed Lakeland in a shootout 3-1 and then Medford in a shootout, 4-2, to move on to the sectional finals.
The theme for Rhinelander in all three shootouts was the same. Shots were on target. If a penalty kick was not converted it was because the opposing keeper made a save. But opposing keepers couldn't keep up with Cooper Radke, who made six saves between those three shootouts.
"We've been here before. We've been to shootouts before and, especially as a group of seniors, we've been able to make these shots," senior captain Charlie Heck said. "We have a stud keeper back there. We've practiced like hell on these PK shots. We know that if we can take them to a shootout, we've got a damn good chance of winning the game."
Those three triumphs preceded the wildest shootout of them all which came after 100 minutes of soccer in a sectional final against Rice Lake yielded no scoring.
Tied 3-3 in the final round of the regulation, Rice Lake appeared to have scored the winning goal when Abdella Chakouri converted, but a loud horn sounded just as Chakouri took the kick, and the match officials nullified the attempt. On the retry Chakouri hit the right post to send the shootout to extra kicks.
Rhinelander's Kyle Wiese was bothered by the same horn in the sixth round, missing on the initial chance but converting when he got a mulligan. Radke then stopped Rice Lake's Sam Jevne to clinch a bizarre win for the Hodags.
Soggy state
With the way the sectional final ended, hardly anything was going to faze Rhinelander come the state tournament. A 51-minute lightning delay and a field inundated by downpours felt very much on brand for the Hodags by the end of the season.
Not surprisingly, Rhinelander embraced the unusual circumstances once play resumed and nearly stunned the heavily-favored Notre Dame Tritons. The Hodags scored the lone goal once play resumed after the stoppage in the 50th minute and Rhinelander ultimately lost 2-1.
"It sucks we lost, but I can't figure out a better way to lose than at this field, at this moment, in this weather," said senior Braden Mork, who scored for the Hodags in the 69th minute on a free kick that skipped through the box and into the Notre Dame goal. "It was just perfect. It sucks but it was a great season. That's all that matters really."
"They can all hold their heads up high," Bates added. "They took the No. 1 seeded team in Division 3 in the state down to the wire. It was a great game."
Statbook
It was fitting that Mork got the goal for Rhinelander at state, as he was the team's leading scorer overall on the season. Mork had 13 goals to go along with 15 assists.
"Braden really stepped up in multiple different ways," Bates said of Mork, who was a first-team all-GNC selection. "He played midfield. He played striker. He played defense. Braden's kind of an all-around player out there and he stepped up where we needed him."
Fellow senior Shane Petrick was the only other player on the team with double-digit goals, scoring 14 on the season. Kyle Wiese (6) and Will Quinn (4) were the only other who scored more than twice.
Radke, meanwhile, finished 11-3-6 in goal this year with a 0.83 goals against average and a .843 save percentage.
What's next
The Hodags have not talked about next year much, though the squad will certainly look much different than it did this season. Of the Hodags' eight all-conference selections, seven are graduating. That includes conference co-defensive player of the year Charlie Heck along with Mork, Wiese, Petrick, Radke, defender Leo Losch and midfielder Andrew Henrichs.
Whether Bates will return also remains to be seen, as he's hinted on a couple of occasions during the playoff run that he'd like to go out with the group he brought up from the U8 level.
"A lot of highs, a lot of lows but, you know what, I wouldn't change it for anything," Bates said at the end of the season. "It's a great way to go out, a great way to finish with my boys and I'm extremely happy of what we did this season and what we accomplished."
The Hodags will have a few key pieces back, including Quinn, attacker Mason Shinners and defenders Matthew King and Neil Weigel.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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