May 15, 2023 at 7:47 a.m.
Hodag soccer goes 2-1 in Waupaca
Rhinelander started the day with a 5-0 win over Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia before losing in the semifinals 3-1 to Menasha. The Hodags rallied to take the third-place match over New London 7-0.
The Hodags played three, 60-minute contests on the day in the span of a little under five hours.
"It was a lot of soccer, not a lot of breaks there," Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. "After the Menasha game the girls literally had eight minutes of break and then we played another game right away. It was a pretty fast and furious day of soccer, but the girls had a lot of fun and they played really well together."
Both Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia and New London are in Rhinelander's Division 3 regional bracket for the WIAA playoffs. Menasha resides in the larger Division 2.
"We wanted to get Amherst and New London also in our bracket as well," Bates said. "We were able to get two of our three sectional opponents in there this tournament, which was really good to see. We got a good chance to play them today and the girls went out there today, did their thing and put them away pretty good."
The Hodags had goals from four different players in the Amherst match. Ava Lamers scored twice, and had the lone tally of the first half as the Hodags led 1-0 at the break. Sophie Miljevich kicked off the scoring in the second, and the Hodags also got goals from Morgan Van Zile and Shayla Coppenger before Lamers finished out the scoring.
"The girls came out strong and they made pretty easy work of Amherst," Bates noted. "They played pretty well as a team and there was a lot of good stuff happening, good through balls, good crosses. They looked really good this morning."
Lamers was unavailable for the final two games due to a prior commitment. The Hodags fell behind 2-0 to the Bluejays in the first half. Leah Weigel scored to trim the lead to one in the second, but Menasha converted a penalty kick to round out the scoring.
"We went out against a pretty tough opponent against Menasha," Bates said. "I think they're 9-2-1 on the season in a larger bracket than we are, Division 2. They had a really good team, but the girls went out there and gave it 100% and gave them a good fight and we were down one of the big pieces of our puzzle."
The Hodags restored order in the capper against New London. Miljevich and Van Zile each recorded hat tricks in the game and Alison Birk netted her first career varsity goal. The Hodags led 2-0 at halftime and pulled away in the second.
"The girls played really, really well. Multiple goals were scored by multiple different girls," Bates said of the New London game.
Further statistics from the games were not available.
Rhinelander (10-4-0, 6-1-0 Great Northern) is gearing up for a big week in Great Northern Conference play. The Hodags will travel to Eagle River this afternoon to take on Northland Pines - their final hurdle before a rematch against conference-leading Lakeland Friday night at Mike Webster Stadium. The Hodags need to win their final three conference games of the season in regulation to clinch at least a share of the conference title with Lakeland.
"You never underestimate Pines," Bates said. "Rodney (Sternhagen)'s got a good program there, a good group of girls. We're going to go up to Pines on Tuesday and take it game-by-game. Friday, looking ahead, we'll get Lakeland at home and we'll see how it goes. The girls have been playing some really good soccer. We're hoping they can keep it all together this week, everybody stay healthy and hopefully we can get a clean sheet this week."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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