Hodag soccer cruises past Mosinee

It took a few minutes in each half for the Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team to find its stride on Tuesday night. Once it did, the offense started to click for the Hodags. 

Sophie Miljevich scored three times, Leah Jamison added three assists and the Hodags cruised past Mosinee 7-0 in the Hodag Dome.

The win, coupled with Medford’s 1-0 loss to Northland Pines on Tuesday, moved Rhinelander (8-1-2, 4-1-0-1 Great Northern) into sole possession of second place in the conference, five points behind Lakeland which easily dispatched Antigo 8-0 on Tuesday. 

Rhinelander took until the 14th minute to get on the board in the first half and then scored three times in the next six-plus minutes. Hodag coach Nathan Bates said it took a bit for his team to get some quality shots on net.

“I wouldn’t even say it was slow. We weren’t shooting a lot in the beginning,” he said. “We were doing a lot more passing than anything. I’m not going to call it slow, but we could have came out harder. That’s where I’m going to go with it.”

The Hodags had what appeared to be the opener by Morgan Van Zile waved off due to offsides in the fourth minute and finally got on the board in the 14th minute as Jamison put Sophie Miljevich on a run through the middle of the Mosinee defense and the junior drilled a shot inside the left post to put the Hodags ahead. 

Van Zile got on the board in the 17th minute as she stationed herself on the back post to redirect a Sophie Miljevich corner kick into the back of the net. Freshman Lindsey Hoerchler then cashed in on a through ball by Jamison to make it 3-0 in the 20th minute. Sophie Miljevich rounded out the first half scoring, tucking a free kick from left of the 18-yard box into the upper lefthand corner of the goal.

“We had a lot of really, really good crosses. We had some phenomenal finish attempts and finishes off of corner kicks tonight. Set pieces again worked very well,” Bates said.

    Rhinelander’s Leah Jamison is guarded by Mosinee’s Lena Kerviel during the second half of a GNC girls’ soccer game at the Hodag Dome Tuesday, May 7. Jamison recorded three assists in the Hodags’ 7-0 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Vivian Lamers made it a 5-0 game in the 47th minute as she fired a pass from Van Zile home from outside the 18. Ella Miljevich scored from the outside in the 57th minute and Sophie Miljevich rounded out the scoring on another through ball by Jamison in the 67th minute. 

Rhinelander dominated play on Tuesday, outshooting Mosinee 46-6 overall. The Hodags had a 20-3 edge in shots on goal.

“The girls controlled the game very well,” Bates said. “Our passing, communication, in my opinion, were spot on. It seemed like every time we wanted to be able to get in there and get some shots we were able to. It was nice to see multiple goals scored from multiple people. 

“Across the board we had a good game. Defense played well, midfield played well, offense. I’m happy with how they did tonight ... Mosinee, hat’s off to them, they tried their best and they’re just outclassed here.”

Mya Krouze made three saves as she picked up the team’s seventh shutout of the season. The shots came from a distance courtesy Mosinee’s top scorer from 2023, Katelyn Selle.

Mosinee’s offense came mostly on counterattack chances, otherwise — like most teams in the GNC — the Indians were content to dedicate more personnel to defense in an effort to slow the conference’s top-scoring offense. To that end, Bates said the team’s tactics navigating a cluttered attacking third were improved.

“We’ve been working pretty hard on it at practice,” he said. “We’ve been putting nine mannequins in the box working on penetrating through a lot of clutter. Tonight they did a pretty good job at it too with a lot of people in the box.”

Rhinelander faced Medford on the road Thursday in a match that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Hodags were looking to avenge a shootout loss to the Raiders last month in Rhinelander which put helped to put them behind the 8-ball in the conference race.

The Hodags travel to Waupaca for an invite on Saturday in which they are slated to play three shortened games. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].