RHS soccer knocks off Lakeland, takes early GNC lead

A sophomore making his first career varsity start made a big impact early on in the Great Northern Conference race Thursday. 

Mason Eyer deflected in a rebound in the 29th minute and that was good enough for the Hodags to defeat Lakeland 1-0 at Mike Webster Stadium.

The win left Rhinelander as the lone unbeaten team in GNC play through three rounds of the 10-game season.

The decisive goal came off a set piece moments after Lakeland’s Ethan Seeliger was yellow carded for taking down Rhinelander’s Will Quinn just outside the Lakeland penalty area. Quinn sent the ensuing free kick into the box, where Lakeland keeper Cody Harris stopped a header attempt by Rhinelander’s Will Gretzinger, but could not corral the rebound, which found an awaiting Eyer. 

“We placed it in the box and had some bodies in there to just get a foot on it,” coach John Weigel said. “Sometimes, just like the Medford game, one mistake can be the difference in these conference games. We came out the lucky ones tonight.”

    Rhinelander’s Matthew King attempts to shield Lakeland’s Yaroslav Myshchyshyn from the ball during the second half of a GNC boys’ soccer game at Mike Webster Stadium Thursday, Sept. 7. The Hodags defeated the T-Birds 1-0 to take sole possession of first place in the conference. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

From there Rhinelander did its best to neutralize two-time GNC offensive player of the year Yaroslav Myshschshyn. Matthew King was tasked with taking on Myshschshyn 1-on-1 most of the night and limited the senior attacker’s looks at the goal.

“That was our plan, try to limit at least what we can do with the ball,” Weigel said. “I think we were pretty successful with that tonight. That was kind of the plan coming in, put Matthew on him and see what he could do. I think he did a pretty good job today. I’m proud of him.”

Still Lakeland had plenty of chances, especially in the second half, as the Hodags nursed a one-goal lead. Myshschshyn ran through the middle of the defense and let loose a right-footed shot from just outside 10 yards that skirted the goal wide right in the 42nd minute. He missed a left-footed look from the edge of the 18 in the 70th minute. 

Dominic Gironella had looks stopped by keeper Barak Rappley in the 44th and 69th minute. Rappley also sniffed out crossed to Lakeland’s Cameron Bernard in the 46th, 67th and 72nd minutes. 

Lakeland’s last best chance came in the 75th is Gironella found the ball with a bit of separation inside the box following a free kick and tugged the shot from 12 yards wide right. 

In all, Lakeland had a 23-15 edge in shots, though both teams finished with nine shots on goal.

“Dominic played a heck of a game for Lakeland. Give him props, he put some stress on me when he had the ball a couple of times too,” Weigel said. “It seems like when we play Lakeland, both coming in undefeated (in conference), it’s stressful. They put up a fight for us every time. Those are not easy wins to come away with. It was a lot of fun.”

    Rhinelander’s Will Gretzinger attempts to head the ball between Ashland goalkeeper Peter Finch and defender David Goyke during the first half of a non-conference boys’ soccer game at Mike Webster Stadium Saturday, Sept. 9. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Invite games end in draws

The Hodags were back home Saturday and played two games that had no winner following 80 minutes. Rhinelander drew with Ashland 2-2 at Mike Webster Stadium and 3-3 with Shawano in the Hodag Dome. 

Rhinelander attempted to rest some players, notably Quinn, for the non-conference contests as it tries to position itself for a run at the Great Northern Conference title. 

“It was a long Saturday to come away with two ties, but they played hard, played good. Those were some good teams,” Weigel said. “Some of the JV kids gone some play time with these non-conference games. Hopefully we’ll recuperate a little bit, regroup and come ready for conference play on Tuesday.”

Though Rhinelander controlled play in Saturday morning’s opener — outshooting Ashland 31-12 — a couple of unlucky breaks helped result in the tie. 

William Dykstra scored both goals for the Oredockers. The first came on a penalty kick in the 25th minute after the ball took an awkward hop and struck defender Karter Massey inside the penalty area. It was deemed to be a handball foul and Dykstra converted the penalty to the upper righthand corner of the goal.

The second came moments after Rhinelander had tied the game in the second half as Dykstra launched a shot from outside of 45 yards that snuck just over a leaping Rappley in the Rhinelander goal and under the crossbar.

“We got an unlucky handball,” Weigel said. “The way I saw it, and our player thought, his hands were down at his sides and didn’t hit it, but the ref called it a handball and PKs are hard to stop. They got one of those and then just a shot from outside, just a blooper that came in over the top of Barak.” 

Rhinelander had just drawn level in the match on a Matthew King strike from just outside the 18 in the 52nd minute before Dykstra’s reply. The Hodags wasted no time answering back as Mason Shinners got on the end of a Michael Schiek cross and tied the game in the 55th minute.

“Going down like that, it’s really easy sometimes to just kind of just say the game’s over and give up,” Weigel said. “They kept fighting hard and they put one right back in the net and came back and fought and tied it up. That’s all you can ask for sometimes.”

The afternoon contest went back and forth as neither team led by more than a goal. Warner Beyer’s back post finish put Shawano ahead in the eighth minute, but King answered with a shot from 25 yards that snuck in under the crossbar in the 16th minute. George Buerman fired home a one-touch shot to put Shawano back ahead in the 23rd minute before Will Gretzinger finished a rebound off a hard strike from King to tie it again in the 30th minute.

Rhinelander took its only lead of the day moments into the second half as Schiek finished in a scrum after Shawano denied a breakaway chance by Gretzinger. That lead held until the 67th minute when Drake Herm found space inside the 18 and equalized the match for the Hawks. 

“They played Lakeland prior to us and still had some kids that had some gas left in the tank there,” Weigel said. “They really put some pressure on us in the first half. I think toward the second you could kind of see that both teams had played a game earlier. It kind of slowed that game down a lot. We just couldn’t hold on. They got that last one in and tied ‘er up.”

The Hodags held a slight 26-22 edge in shots over Shawano. Rappley made four saves in the Ashland draw and had 10 stops against Shawano.

Up next

Though the Hodags lead the GNC at this juncture, they face two more strong challenges this week as they host Mosinee tonight at Mike Webster Stadium and travel to Northland Pines on Thursday. 

Mosinee sits in a three-way logjam for second just a game behind Rhinelander and while Northland Pines is 0-3 in the GNC, those games have been one-goal losses to Lakeland, Mosinee and Medford. 

“We’re not even halfway through the season yet. We’ve still got Mosinee and Pines before we see all these teams again. Anything can happen,” Weigel said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].