June 12, 2023 at 9:33 a.m.
Ashland blitzes RHS soccer in sectional semis
Ashland blitzes RHS soccer in sectional semis
It was déjà vu Thursday afternoon in the round of 16 in the WIAA Division 3 girls' soccer tournament.
The Oredockers again scored three times in the first 16 minutes and tacked on one more for good measure before halftime on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Hodags at Ponzio Stadium in the sectional semifinals.
Sienna Mika scored twice, Hannah Bochler had a goal and two assists and the Ashland attack sliced through the Hodag defense with ease in the first half hour.
"It was like déjà vu watching the first half," Hodag girls' soccer coach Nathan Bates said. "We were doing the same stuff we did the first time and I don't know why. It happened. It's over with now ... The first half, I don't know what happened, I really don't. We talked about it. We watched film. That's all I can say."
It was a disappointing end for the Hodags, who finished the year 14-6-0 and advanced to the sectional round of the WIAA tournament for the second time in the last three years.
"I'm proud of the girls," Bates said. "They had a very successful season. I wish we would have continued to move on to Saturday but, unfortunately, it just didn't happen today."
Ashland simply had Rhinelander's number early in the going with an aggressive attack that yielded a couple of quality chances prior to a pair of strikes in the eighth minute.
Lilly Nye cashed in on a Sonja Root through ball to put Ashland on the board, and it was the same tale 39 seconds later as Root put Bochler on a run for a breakaway finish that made it 2-0 Ashland.
Mika, who also scored twice in Ashland's 3-1 win at Rhinelander April 3, got through the back line on a chip up the middle from Bochler and scored in the 16th minute. The two hooked up again in the 30th minute, with Mika breaching the defense on the right wing for another breakaway finish.
Bates said the speed and the numbers Ashland put forth in the attack were hard to contain.
"They were overloading us like they do," he said. "They run three in the back, three in the middle and four attackers. And it's not just the four attackers. Their midfielders transition very well into the offensive attack, so they're attacking with six to seven every time they do it. We tried combating that with our starting formation until they ran out of some steam. It just didn't work."
"It was just multiple things," Bates added. "There were a lot of emotions going into this game. We were amped up and we made some defensive errors in the beginning. We made some offensive errors. It was just a combination of everything."
After getting outshot 12-2 in the opening half, play did seem to level out a bit for the Hodags in the second. Morgan Van Zile tallied the Hodags' lone goal in the 46th minute she gathered a through ball from Ava Lamers roughly 15 yards from goal, dribbled in and finished.
The Hodags had a couple of other decent looks in the second half. Lamers hit the crossbar on a free kick attempt in the 48th minute and keeper Maggie Tutor smothered a centering pass from Van Zile to Sophie Miljevich near the penalty spot just before Miljevich could fire off a shot in the 64th minute.
"I wish the whole game would have went that way, but I asked them to go out and win the second half and they did," Bates said. "The hardest thing when you're down at half, you say, 'Hey, we lost that half, let's go out and win the next half.' That's all you can really do is focus on what's ahead of you at that time. It's difficult to come back, especially against a tough opponent like that. You do try to do it all at once. You try to chip away and go out and win that half. That's all you can do."
The loss brought to an end the high school career for five Hodag seniors, including Lamers who was the team's leading scorer this spring.
"It's very tough for the seniors, but I'm proud of the seniors," Bates said. "They had a great year and I'm going to miss all of them. I wish them all the best on their future endeavors and everything else they're going to do.
"All of them have meant a lot to this program. They're great leaders. Some of them were the captains of the team, at least two of them were. They meant a lot. They're great leaders, great competitors and they love the game itself. I'm going to miss all of them. They're great kids."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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