Raiders stymie Hodags, steal two points in shootout

The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team ran up against a team that played not to lose on Thursday night. The Medford Raiders did just that, and stole a couple of key points from the Hodags in the Great Northern Conference race in the process. 

The Hodags dominated every statistical category except the most important one, settling for a 0-0 tie with Medford. Rhinelander had four chances to earn an extra point in penalty kicks but fell in the shootout 4-3.

Rhinelander outshot Medford 32-6 and had a 10-2 edge in shots on goal. Behind the play of returning first-team All-GNC goalkeeper Sophia Brunner, the Raiders had a plan to play a defensive-minded game and take their chances in penalty kicks. The gamble paid off for the Raiders, who have allowed only one goal in seven games so far this season and sit tied atop the GNC standings — despite having not yet scored a goal in conference play. 

    Medford goalkeeper Sophia Brunner collects the ball in front of Rhinelander’s June Chiamulera on a corner kick during the first half of a GNC girls’ soccer game at Mike Webster Stadium Thursday, April 18. Medford allowed 32 shots but, thanks to a compressed defense and 10 saves by Brunner, did not allow any goals. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

“It sucks to lose a game when you beat up on a team the whole time like that, but we knew their game plan going into it and, unfortunately, they won the way they wanted to win,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “We kind of knew this was exactly what they were trying to do and, unfortunately, we pounded on them pretty hard and we just couldn’t get one to fall. It happens. It’s high school sports. It’s unfortunate. I’m not upset with my girls at all. We played our game the second half. The first half we had some issues there that I wasn’t too impressed with but, all and all, we played a great game.” 

Even then, the Hodags (4-0-1, 1-0-0-1 Great Northern) appeared to be in control in penalty kicks after makes by Sophie Miljevich, Vivian Lamers and Ella Miljevich had them up 3-1 after three rounds of the five-round shootout.

Brunner stopped chances from Leah Weigel and Emma Chiamulera, while Alexis Syzdel made for the Raiders, setting up a chance for Medford’s Talyn Peterson to force extra kicks. Rhinelander keeper Mya Krouze guessed correctly that Peterson would try for the left post and deflected the chance, only to see the ball trundle off the inside of the post and in to extend the shootout.

“She made the initial stop and the ball came back in and rolled over,” Bates said. “She made the initial stop and that’s all we can ask out of her. PKs are tough and she did a great job. It’s unfortunate that’s they way that happened.” 

From there Brunner denied Morgan Van Zile’s chance to the right post and Shayla Radlinger won the shootout getting Krouze to lean to keeper’s right before firing a shot to the other side. 

“They were all pretty good shots,” Bates said of his team’s chances in penalty kicks. “Leah had a little issue there where she hit it right at the goalie’s gut, but that happens as well. All and all, the shots, the placement, were all good. Brunner had a couple of good saves.”

Aside from a few counter-attack chances for the Raiders, the Hodags possessed the ball in Medford’s attacking third much of the night. 

No less than half of Brunner’s saves came off the feet of Lamers, who was denied on three chances in the first half — including a hard shot in from 25 yards in the 32nd minute that Brunner bobbled before covering. Lamers’s best look came in the 59th minute and she sought inside the left post from 15 yards, only to see Brunner extinguish it with a diving stop. 

Brunner was also up to the task in the 48th minute as she came out of her box to get to a through ball intended for Sophie Miljevich before the Hodag junior could get to it. Miljevich had another strong chance in the 63rd minute on a free kick from 23 yards that Brunner bobbled, but covered up in traffic before the Hodags could get a foot on the rebound. 

Medford’s quality chances were few and far between. The Raiders’ best chance came in the 48th minute as Radlinger got through the middle of the defense and had a shot from 15 yards that Krouze denied. 

Bates called it a frustrating night as his offense tried to stretch the Medford defense, to no avail.

“We were trying to bring them out, draw them out wide so we could have some opportunities with some openings,” he said. “They were just packing so many girls into the box that it was hard to get shots in on them. We were hitting girls and the shots we were getting weren’t super quality because there were so many people (in the box).”

While effective, Bates went on to say Medford’s tactics of sitting back on defense, instead of pressing for a goal in regulation, were not of his liking. 

“I’ll say it. In my opinion, it’s a cheap way to play the game, but they did it and that’s what they’ve been doing all season long,” he said.

The result created an early three-way logjam atop the GNC between Medford and the two teams it has downed in shootouts — Rhinelander and Northland Pines. Lakeland sat one point behind the tri-leaders following a 1-0 win over Mosinee on Thursday. 

Rhinelander hosts Antigo tonight at Mike Webster Stadium and will travel to Northland Pines this Thursday.

“We’ve just got to keep focusing game by game,” Bates said. “I still think we have the best team in the conference by far. We’re going to go out and continue to try to hit our goals, win conference and move on through the playoffs.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].