Quinn nets hat trick, Hodag soccer takes opener

The Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team started on the right foot Tuesday in John Weigel’s first game as head coach. 

Will Quinn scored three times, Will Gretzinger added a goal and the Hodags took care of New London 4-0 on the road in a non-conference contest.

“That was a great start to the season,” said Weigel, who took over for Nathan Bates following the Hodags’ run to the WIAA Division 3 state tournament last fall. “We got a win, which is awesome. The kids got their first touches on the balls in real competition versus practice. It’s a little bit different. It was a great win.”

Quinn, the lone returning All-Great Northern Conference player for the Hodags, quickly proved his value in the attack. The senior converted a penalty kick in the sixth minute after New London committed a handball in its own penalty area. He dribbled between two defenders, found space and fired home from 12 yards in the 19th minute and completed his hat trick in the 54th minute with a shot from outside the box that settled into the top left corner of the net. 

“A hat trick in any high school varsity game is a huge deal. That was awesome for him,” Weigel said. “He’s stepped up huge into that spot. He plays that spot real well. Our plan tonight was to try to move him around a little bit more but New London, the score didn’t show it, but they had a couple kids that put some pressure on us.”

The Hodags raced out to an early lead, already up 2-0 after Quinn’s penalty conversion. Gretzinger put Rhinelander on the board in the fourth minute as he won a ball sent up the middle and fired a shot from outside of 20 yards that slipped past the New London goalkeeper and trundled into the back of the net. 

“I said, ‘Boys, let’s not start off by being on of those second-half teams trying to play for a comeback. Let’s start off on fire and set the tone right away.’ They went out and did exactly out,” Weigel said. “We had some good pressure, saw some things we need to work on, but they had a really good game overall.”

Junior goalkeeper Barak Rappley did not face a shot on goal as he made his first start replacing the graduated Cooper Radke. Rhinelander finished with a 13-3 edge in shots overall. The Bulldogs threatened to breach the Hodags’ back line on a few occasions, but they were whistled offsides three times and, when they were onside, the defense was able to recover and prevent any threatening chances. 

“They put some pressure on us, had some runs and some through balls there that we really had to chase down and put some effort into stopping them,” Weigel said. “We had some pretty solid defense. Our game ball we gave to Hart Hokens, who kind of shut them down on defense. He has phenomenal back there. They had a pretty quick kid and he was able to keep up with him and prevent tons of attacks on us.”

Weigel said he was happy with the outcome of the first game, though it exposed some areas to improve.

“We don’t have a very deep team this year. You could see the little bit of conditioning that we did work on. We need to work on some more of that,” he said. “Then nothing really in particular, but just more positioning of the midfielders to track back and play defense. Just some of the basics, fine tune them and get them where they need to be.” 

The Hodags (1-0-0, 0-0-0-0 Great Northern) were set to come home Thursday to face Wausau East in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will open Great Northern Conference play this Tuesday at home against Medford. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].