Hodag soccer downs Pines, ties Rice Lake

The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team set the stage for a home showdown with Lakeland tonight for the lead in the Great Northern Conference standings thanks to a 4-0 victory on the road Thursday at Northland Pines.

The Hodags will come into that match still unbeaten on the year after playing Rice Lake to a scoreless draw Saturday in Rice Lake. 

Meanwhile, Lakeland vaulted into first place in the conference thanks to a pair of road victories, 1-0 at Medford and 8-0 at Antigo, Thursday and Friday. The Hodags are currently two points behind the T-Birds in the standings, with their shootout loss to the Raiders back on April 18 looming as the difference — a result that’s officially counted as a tie toward the team’s overall record.

It figures to be a tight matchup between the teams, which played to a trio of 1-0 decisions last season. Lakeland took both regular season meetings en route to the GNC title while the Hodags exacted revenge in the WIAA regional finals.

“They always come to play,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said looking ahead to tonight’s matchup against Lakeland. “Every time we bring it, they bring it. It’s going to be a hard-fought game, I’m anticipating. If our girls are clicking like they have, I think we’re going to get the better end of the game.”

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Mike Webster Stadium.

Rhinelander 4, Northland Pines 0

    Rhinelander’s Lindsey Hoerchler sends a shot toward the goal during the second half of a GNC girls’ soccer game against Northland Pines in Eagle River Thursday, April 25. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

The Hodags set up tonight’s big game thanks to a fast start on Thursday. Morgan Van Zile and Vivian Lamers each scored twice and the Hodags rode four goals in the first half to a victory over the Eagles.

All the scoring was done by the half-hour mark and Bates said his team let off the accelerator a bit in the second half. All five of Northland Pines’s shots in the match came over the final 40 minutes.

“We got up on them and then we laid down,” he said. “We didn’t have to because we had them the whole time. We were passing circles around them. We were out-hustling them. The minute we got up four goals on them, after that, we just kind of came out and maintained the rest of the game. Which is unfortunate because the girls have a lot more in them and they’ve shown it in some games that they can really put teams away when they want to. For whatever reason tonight they were happy with four and they left it at that.”

Lamers got the scoring started for the Hodags in the eighth minute, firing home from 15 yards off a cross by Van Zile. Van Zile made it 2-0 on an opportunistic chance in the 10th minute as she crashed the net and scored on a rebound off a hard shot by Ella Miljevich. Van Zile added the third goal exactly 58 seconds later as the ball bounded free to her in the Eagles’ box roughly 15 yards from goal and the tucked a shot inside the left post.

Lamers finished the scoring in the 30th minute, knocking home a direct free kick from just outside the 18.

“Mo had some great follow-ups. Viv, on that set piece, that was beautiful placement on that one, which was great to see. We’ve been working a lot of set pieces and they did a good job on them tonight,” Bates said. “The majority of the game, I can’t complain. The girls played a really good first half. They did everything I asked out of them. I just wish they would have carried through for 80 minutes of play tonight. 

Rhinelander finished with a 28-5 edge in total shots. All five Pines shots were on frame as Mya Krouze claimed the shutout.

Rhinelander 0, Rice Lake 0

Things turned into a defensive stalemate between the Hodags and Warriors Saturday under damp and breezy conditions in Rice Lake.

Neither team found a way to put a ball home in a scoreless draw as quality scoring chances were few and far between. Unofficially, Rhinelander outshot Rice Lake 13-8, and the teams combined for only five shots on goal.

“The girls fought, they gave 100% for the full 80 minutes. It wasn’t very offensive on either end. It was a defensive battle for both teams. There wasn’t a whole lot of action,” Bates said. “The first half, the wind definitely played a big factor. The second half the wind wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in the first. The ball moved pretty quick. It was a wet field. The ball was skipping a lot but the teams just seemed to be very fairly matched. It was a fairly matched game.”

Rhinelander’s best chances to break the deadlock came early in the second half. Leah Weigel put Van Zile on a through ball behind the Rice Lake defense, but a hurried shot from 15 yards with a pair of defenders in hot pursuit sailed over the crossbar. Sophie Miljevich then had a long range chance from 45 yards off a free kick in the 54th minute that ended up directly on the keeper for a save.

Rice Lake picked up the pressure late in the match. Ella Clark missed wide on a cross from Natalie Nolin in the 69th minute. Krouze snagged a corner kick before Clark could get a head on it in the 72nd minute and Clark fired wide right on a chance from the top of the 18 in the 75th minute.

“We definitely started gassing there toward the end and Rice Lake had a little pick-me-up toward the end. They had some pressure but there wasn’t anything real threatening that happened. The corner kick they had that Mya went up and grabbed, she had a great save on that one but, all and all, there weren’t many threats the whole game.”

Krouze was credited with two saves in the draw.

The game was supposed to be part of a triangular on Saturday in Rice Lake. However, Baldwin-Woodville, which lost to Rice Lake 3-0 in the opening game, withdrew from the event following that match and opted not to play the Hodags. No result was officially listed on the WIAA website as of press time however, considering the circumstances, GNC statistician Gregg Scott credited the Hodags with a 1-0 forfeit win in the match, moving Rhinelander to 7-0-2 overall on the season.

“We would have liked to have gotten both games in, but we got to watch Baldwin today play before us and I don’t think that would have been that much of a game for us,” Bates said. “I’m pretty disappointed at the coach, why he didn’t want to play. Kind of upset that we didn’t get to come down and get two games in.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].