Soccer: Hodag offense shaky in win at Antigo

ANTIGO — The Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team got three more points and remained unbeaten in Great Northern Conference play on Thursday, but the Hodags were not in a mood to celebrate as they left Listle Field.

Goals by Will Quinn and Will Gretzinger were good enough, but Rhinelander left countless scoring chances on the table as it scored a 2-0 victory over the perennial conference back-marker Robins. 

For the two goals the Hodags scored there seemed to be twenty-some odd ways they didn’t. Rhinelander took 38 shots, only 15 finished on target. Thirteen of those were stopped by Antigo keeper Logan Griese and the Hodags seemed flummoxed by Antigo’s back line trap —getting called offsides on nine different occasions. 

“Not what I was expecting from this team today,” Hodag coach John Weigel said afterward. “We did get the win. I’ll give it to Antigo. They have improved a lot since last year. They improve every time we play them, but I expected a lot more out of our boys. We did not follow the tactics we had coming into the game and it showed, definitely.”

    Rhinelander’s Will Quinn gets ahead of Antigo’s Michael Preboski during the first half of a GNC boys’ soccer game at Antigo Thursday, Aug. 31. Quinn scored on the play, recording his team-high fourth goal of the season. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Quinn converted a give-and-go from Gretzinger in the 16th minute to put the Hodags on the board. It was his team-high fourth goal of the season, and first since scoring a hat trick in a 4-0 win at New London Aug. 22. 

Gretzinger has the team’s three other goals on the season, including Thursday’s capper. He got on the end of a through ball by Quinn and scored on a breakaway in the 43rd minute. 

The woes started right away in the opening minute as Griese made a kick save on a Mason Shinners breakaway attempt. It set the tone for what proved to be a frustrating offensive afternoon for the Hodags. 

Shinners was stonewalled again on a breakaway chance in the 23rd minute. Gretzinger missed high and wide right on an open look at the top of the 18 in the 31st minute and Matthew King skimmed a shot just over the crossbar from a similar spot in the 37th minute. 

Switching sides didn’t seem to help. King misfired from the back post off a well-played cross by Dalton Fritz in the 46th minute. Quinn had 1-on-0 chances knocked away in the 49th and 60th minutes. Shinners misfired from the top of the 18 in the 55th minute, Gretzinger pulled a breakaway chance wide in the 62nd and King had two more solid looks thwarted by Griese in the final 20 minutes of the match. 

“I think we had 35 shots and finishing is just horrible. It’s something we need to work on. We need to correct that for the tough games because you’re not going to get those opportunities,” coach Weigel said. “We got a couple of goals which is good but we did not play how we expected. We tried to use some excuses, the grass field, this and that, but it’s no excuse. We had a game plan. We just didn’t stick with it. Luckily we were able to walk away with a win when we had a poor showing.”

Barak Rappley made two saves for the Hodags, who recorded their third shutout win in three games this season. Even that had a bit of drama. Liam Burt had an open look inside the Hodag box in the fourth minute that he tugged wide. Moments after Rappley broke up a through ball intended for Garrett Kufner in the 45th minute, Trenton Walbeck sent a shot sailing over the bar from the top of the 18.

The Robins didn’t record their first shot on goal until the 57th minute and Rappley turned aside Kufner’s look from the top of the 18 in the 73rd. 

“Neil (Weigel) was able to kind of step in front of Hart (Hokens) there, knock some balls down and send them up the field,” coach Weigel said, crediting his back line. “Then Hart’s able, with his speed to track those guys down if they get through balls. The defense held. They got the clean sheet, but  I’m not happy with the midfield and offense today.”

Rhinelander (3-1-0, 2-0-0-0 Great Northern) will likely need to play better Thursday night as it welcomes Lakeland to Mike Webster Stadium in an conference showdown. The T-Birds are the lone other unbeaten team in the GNC with early-season wins over Northland Pines and Mosinee. 

“We’re going to practice all week and get ready for them,” coach Weigel said. “Sometimes that’s sports. You can have a good game or a bad game. Hopefully we got our bad game out of the way, we can go there and play like we have the last couple of games.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].