Six Hodags receive All-GNC soccer honors

Six members of the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team have received All-Great Northern Conference recognition the conference announced on Sunday.

Goalkeeper Barak Rappley, defender Neil Weigel and midfielder Will Quinn all were named to the conference’s first team. Defender Hart Hokens received second-team recognition while Matthew King and Michael Schiek received honorable mention.

“We finished third, got eight nominations. Coming away with six (honorees) I thought was pretty good,” coach John Weigel said.

Rappley went 6-3-1 in league play, was second in the conference with a .843 save percentage and third in the league with a 0.80 goals against average.

“I think he had a great year. He’s a junior and he’ll be coming back next year. He made some awesome saves throughout the year,” coach Weigel noted.

Quinn’s six assists were tied for second in the GNC and his 10 total points were tied for ninth.

“Will Quinn, he’s that center player for us,” coach Weigel said. “He’s a distributor, very unselfish player. He’d love to pass the ball and see his teammates score as opposed to being one of those kids that wants the goal for himself.”

Neil Weigel, coach Weigel’s son, did have a goal and an assist in league play, but was more noted for his play on the back line. Rhinelander had the No. 2 rated defense in the GNC, allowing eight goals in league play. 

“Neil’s a four-year varsity player,” John Weigel said. “He’s a captain on this team and kind of helps lead this defense. He’s just an all-around good guy on our team. He helps set things up, gets the team going, pumps them up.”

Like Neil Weigel, Hokens had a goal and an assist in league play while primarily playing defense. King was a multi-positional player for the Hodags and his four goals in league play led the team. Schiek finished with a goal and an assist in GNC play. 

Lakeland’s Yaroslav Myshchyshyn earned his third consecutive offensive player of the year award in the GNC. Mosinee’s Josh Ivey and Northland Pines’ Cody Vojta shared defensive player of the year honors. Ben Wilhelm, who guided Antigo to its first-ever on-field victory in GNC play when the Robins upset Medford Oct. 3, was voted the conference’s coach of the year. 

The all-conference soccer team was the last of the fall to be announced by the GNC. Though voting was conducted prior to the start of the WIAA playoffs, the conference opted to withhold the information until after all teams had completed postseason play — which occurred last Saturday when Lakeland lost to Somerset 2-1 in the WIAA Division 3 sectional finals.