May 22, 2023 at 7:21 a.m.
Lakeland ends Hodag soccer's GNC hopes with 1-0 result
Lakeland ends Hodag soccer's GNC hopes with 1-0 result
Alyson Lazaroff had the lone goal, a strike from 30 yards in the 25th minute, as Lakeland defeated Rhinelander 1-0 at Mike Webster Stadium. After losing to Lakeland 2-0 last month in Minocqua, the Hodags needed a regulation win to keep alive any realistic hopes of a conference title. Instead, Lakeland clinched the crown for a second year in a row.
"The girls played great. We came out on fire, put a lot of pressure on them," Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. "The whole game we had a lot of pressure on them. I got nothing but good things to think of my team on how they played. I've got no negative stuff to say ... My whole team gave 100% and they can walk off, in my opinion, holding their heads high. The left everything on the field tonight, that's for sure."
Even so, that was not enough to get the job done against Lakeland.
Lazaroff scored when she found space about 30 yards away on a Josie Wentland cross off a throw in and rifled an indefensible shot to the top righthand corner of the goal, past Rhinelander keeper Mya Krouze. The shot came moments after Rhinelander standout defender Emma Chiamulera appeared to be shaken up and came off the field for a brief instant.
"We left one gap open there for a second and it cost us a goal. It was a great shot by Alyson," Bates said. "We left one gap open, a little bit of a space, she hit a great shot and it went in. That's the end result of the game."
From there, Lakeland could divert most of its attention toward the defense, knowing Rhinelander would have to score twice to disrupt its conference repeat bid.
The majority of Rhinelander's best offensive chances came in the first half hour of the match. Lakeland's Ava Evenhouse recorded six saves in the match, including one in the third minute after Rhinelander's top scorer, Ava Lamers, found space roughly 20 yards from goal off a rebound. Rhinelander was off frame with good looks by Leah Jamison in the sixth minute, Leah Weigel in the eighth and Lamers in the 11th.
Evenhouse bobbled a send into the box by Lamers off a free kick in the 20th minute. Sophie Miljevich's rebound chance was blocked wide by the defense for a corner kick, but the Hodags couldn't generate anything off the ensuing set piece.
The Hodags had one more good look in the 29th minute as Evenhouse stopped a Lamers free kick from just inside 30 yards, sending it wide for a corner kick. The ball eventually came loose to Morgan Van Zile at the top of the 6-yard box, but Evenhouse stopped that one and the ball deflected off a Rhinelander player, resulting in a handball foul that ended the threat.
"We had a lot of fumbles in front of the box tonight with them," Bates said. "They stacked the box hard and heavy in the beginning of the game and I thought we were going to get a couple in there for sure, but it just never fell."
As it did in the first game, Lakeland tried to get speedster Taylor Heleniak free up top. She did get loose in the 19th minute, but Krouze smothered the ball on a well-timed challenge just before Heleniak could make contact inside the 18. Heleniak nearly had two more through ball chances in the second half, but both were cleaned up by Chiamulera on the back line.
"We shut that down tonight. We talked about it and worked on it. Emma did a fantastic job shutting it down tonight," Bates said.
Lakeland, meanwhile, made a concerted effort to neutralize Lamers, the GNC's leading scorer. Senior Maria Gironella shadowed Lamers virtually the entire night, limiting her chances to create offense.
"We were flip-flopping here up top and in the midfield," Bates said. "Maria's doing a great job at it. She's a solid player, just like Ava. They neutralized her, but that's OK. Mo had some really good attacks, Sophie had some good attacks."
Rhinelander held a slight 20-18 edge in total shots for the match. Lakeland had an 8-6 advantage in shots on goal.
Rhinelander learned its postseason fate Sunday night in a seeded meeting that concluded after press time for today's edition. However, based on head-to-head results this season, there stood a good chance for Lakeland to earn the second seed, and Rhinelander the third, for the playoffs. That would set the stage for a potential regional final rematch June 3 in Minocqua.
"I'm really hoping we do - really, really hoping we see them again," Bates said.
Rhinelander (11-5-0, 7-2-0 Great Northern) will close out the regular season tonight at home against Mosinee.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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