Team preview: RHS girls’ soccer

The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team posted 14 wins last season and made its second appearance in the sectional round of the WIAA tournament in three years. 

Yet there was one big piece of missing from the Hodags’ resume last year, something the Hodags haven’t done since 2017, a Great Northern Conference championship.

Though Rhinelander graduated the GNC’s top scorer from last year, with five all-conference players returning and a talented incoming freshman class, coach Nathan Bates and the Hodags believe this can be the year they finally get past Lakeland and back to the top of the GNC.

“We want to win conference,” Bates said following the team’s season-opening practice last Monday morning. “That’s going to be our first goal in mind, winning conference. We’re going to take it step by step and see where they go. We’ve got a really young group of girls this year, but they’ve got big expectations. I think with what we have returning and what we’re adding, I think we should win conference this year. That’s my goal.”

Fans will get their first look at how this year’s Hodag squad gels together beginning tonight as Rhinelander is scheduled to host Hayward in non-conference play at the Hodag Dome. It will be one of three home non-conference tune-ups for the Hodags before GNC play gets underway April 11 at Mosinee. 

The Hodags have a few holes to fill following graduation — including replacing all-conference defender Annalyse Schoppe — but the biggest hole comes right in the middle of the attack. To be successful this year, the Hodags will need to figure out who to make up for the production provided by last year’s co-conference offensive player of the year Ava Lamers. 

Lamers, who is now playing at the University of Montana, was the team’s top scorer last year with 31 goals and 12 assists. 

The good news for Rhinelander, is there appears to be no shortage of players who can step up and shoulder some of the scoring load. That list is headlined by a fellow unanimous all-conference first teamer, junior Sophie Miljevich. She was second on the team with 59 total points last year (21 goals, 17 assists) and was second in the conference in scoring last year — behind only Lamers.

Entering the season, Bates said Miljevich is tabbed for the central midfield spot that Lamers commanded a season ago.

“Sophie’s going to be taking over that role this year. We’re going to try her out and see how that goes,” he said. “Sophie was No. 1 in the conference in assists and No. 2 in goals scored as a sophomore last year. Freshman year she was in the top three as well. We still have some pretty good threats on our offense.”

In fact, aside from Lamers, the Hodags have four of their top five scorers back from last year in an attack that will include senior Morgan Van Zile (8 goals, 6 assists), junior Leah Weigel (7 goals, 7 assists) and senior Leah Jamison (3 goals, 6 assists).

Helping to fortify that attack will be a talent freshman class led by the younger sisters of last year’s top scorers — Vivian Lamers and Ella Miljevich. 

“Between midfield and forwards we have Ella (Miljevich), Vivian Lamers. There are lot of different young girls that we’re looking at,” Bates said. “We have Lyndsey Hoerchler, Ella Heck. We have lots of different talents on this team this year that we can pull out of are arsenal.”

    In this June 3, 2023 file photo, Rhinelander’s Mya Krouze makes a save during the second half of a WIAA Division 3 regional final girls’ soccer game against Lakeland in Minocqua. Krouze, a senior, is back for her third season as the Hodags’ starting goalkeeper. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags appear to be pretty stable on the back end of their formation. Senior goalkeeper Mya Krouze is back for her third season as the team’s starter. She went 13-6-0 last season with a 1.16 goals against average and a .759 save percentage as she garnered second-team honors from the GNC coaches. 

“Mya’s back and she’s been putting in the work in the offseason,” Bates said. “She’s been in the top two goalkeepers in the conference ether last couple of years and does a great job back there.”

On the defensive line, the team returns an all-conference first teamer in senior Emma Chiamulera. Junior Mya Tulowitzky is back as well and Bates said the team is eager to see what it gets from three players who will be making their varsity debuts. June Chiamulera and Becca Brost are among the incoming freshmen class and sophomore Willa Bureta will be back in the lineup after missing last year due to a knee injury.

“You’ve got June and Becca back there that are forces,” he said. “Willa’s back from her injury last year. We have Emma, Mia. Defensively, I’m extremely happy with the talent that we do have back there — whether it be young or our seniors. Defensively, we look really, really good.”

All of that, Rhinelander hopes, will finally yield the team’s first conference title in seven years. The Hodags showed they can go toe-to-toe with two-time defending conference champion Lakeland after knocking the T-Birds out of the WIAA tournament in a 1-0 result in the regional finals last June. 

Lakeland lost some key pieces to graduation — including unanimous first-teamers Callie Ullius and Maria Gironella — but return four all-conference selections from a year ago. 

Overall, the conference may have more parity than its had the last few seasons. Mosinee returns the No. 4 scorer in the conference in Kaitlyn Selle, while Medford and Northland Pines join Rhinelander with five returning all-conference honorees.

“It’s anybody’s game right now. There’s a lot of talent in the conference right now,” Bates said. “We’re going to be gunning for Lakeland but there’s a lot of talent in the conference. Northland Pines had a really young squad last year. Lakeland lost quite a bit from last year, as did we. Lakeland lost quite a bit, but had a great JV squad. You’ve still got Mosinee with Selle on the team.”

If it does come down to a battle between Rhinelander and Lakeland again, everything could be settled during the Hodags’ regular season finale in Minocqua May 21. 

Beyond that, should Rhinelander want to make a deep postseason push it will likely need to contend with another familiar foe in Ashland. The Oredockers won three straight GNC titles between 2018 and 2021 before moving off to the Heart O’North Conference. Ashland was the No. 1 seed in the Hodags’ regional last year and dominated the Hodags in a 4-1 result in the sectional semifinals before making its way to the WIAA state tournament. 

Rhinelander and Ashland are not scheduled to face each other during the regular season, but the Hodags hope there will be enough comparable opponents between to two teams to gauge how they stack up ahead of any potential postseason meeting. 

“I’ll be keeping tabs on them,” Bates said. “They had a young group of girls last year and I think they’re going to be the team to beat again this year when it comes to that other side of the bracket. We do have matchups against Baldwin-Woodville and also Rice Lake. I’m going to be keeping tabs on Ashland as well.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].

TEAM SCHEDULE

Date    Opponent/Event    Time

3/26    HAYWARD    6 p.m.

3/28    MERRILL (scrimmage)    6 p.m.

4/2    SHAWANO    7 p.m.

4/9    WAUPACA    7 p.m.

4/11    at Mosinee*    7 p.m.

4/18    at Medford*    7 p.m.

4/23    ANTIGO*    7 p.m.

4/25    at Northland Pines*    5 p.m.

4/27    Rice Lake Triangular    Noon

4/30    LAKELAND*    7 p.m.

5/7    MOSINEE*    7 p.m.

5/10    MEDFORD*    7 p.m.

5/11    Waupaca Invite    9 a.m.

5/14    at Antigo*    5 p.m.

5/16    NORTHLAND PINES*    7 p.m.

5/21    at Lakeland*    7 p.m.

5/30    Regionals    TBD

6/1    Regionals    TBD

* Conference Games | HOME GAMES IN CAPS