Hodag soccer cruises past Antigo 8-0

Even with fewer people on the field, the Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team had no trouble getting past Great Northern Conference back marker Antigo on the road Tuesday night. 

Morgan Van Zile recorded three goals, Sophie Miljevich scored twice and the Hodags cruised to an 8-0 victory over the Red Robins at Listle Field.

The game took place with only eight players per side — with Antigo short on bodies due to injury and low participation. While 11-on-11 is the norm, WIAA and NFHS regulations allow for as few as seven players on the field per side for an official match in extreme circumstances. 

“It was weird, something I’ve never done before, play 8-v-8 for a varsity game, but it was OK,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “All and all, we went out there, played our game. We were able to sub in a lot of our JV girls this evening, get a lot of playing time for them. That was really about it.”

While not the 17-0 dismantling the Hodags put on the Robins in their first meeting back in April, the Hodags still controlled the play, scoring five times in the first 26 minutes. The Hodags tacked on three more goals in the second half, ending the game via the goal rule when Van Zile finished her hat trick in the 66th minute. 

Van Zile also had the Hodags’ first two goals, scoring unassisted in the seventh minute and off a Sophie Miljevich pass in the 12th. Kiley Pooch’s second goal of the season in the 21st minute was book-ended by a pair of Sophie Miljevich tallies in the 20th and 26th minutes as the Hodags took a 5-0 lead to half time. 

Ella Miljevich scored off an assist from her older sister in the 44th minute, Leah Weigel scored in the 45th minute and assisted on Van Zile’s clincher in the 66th. 

“We still wanted to work on our teamwork. We spread the wealth around. All but one of the goals was assisted. That was a good thing to see,” Bates said. “We just worked on some stuff we needed to work on, our passing game, possession game and taking shots from outside the 18. That’s pretty much how all of goals came from, outside the 18, this evening. That’s what the girls were told to focus on tonight. I would say out of the eight goals, six of them came from outside the 18 tonight.”

The Hodags dominated the match, outshooting the Robins 25-1. Rhinelander had a 16-1 advantage in shots on goal. 

Bates said the biggest difference in playing a smaller-sided game was the pace of play. 

“It was just a slower pace with not as many people,” he said. “The biggest thing was trying to work formations. We played a 2-3-2. That was a little weird, especially with the size of the field playing two defenders. That was the only thing that was really strange adjusting. We switched it up later on in the game and went to a 2-2-3. Some little difference playing on a full-sized field missing three players on the field. Still the girls did well, moved the ball around the field and they were able to do everything we were able to normally do.”

Rhinelander got no help in the Great Northern Conference title race as Lakeland edged Northland Pines 2-0 on Tuesday. The Hodags entered Thursday’s home game against the Eagles, which concluded after press time for today’s edition, needing to win that game in regulation and have Medford score any win — either in regulation or in penalty kicks — over Lakeland to have a chance at playing for the conference title this Tuesday when they conclude the regular season at the T-Birds. 

Regardless of any conference implications, that contest could possibly be a potential playoff preview, with the regional coaches set to seed the upcoming WIAA D3 bracket on Sunday.

“We’ve still got to go out and do business as usual,” Bates said. “It doesn’t matter what ends up happening here with the conference play this year, if we end up with conference or not. The next two games we still have to try to go out and play week by week, team by team to continue to do what we want to do to make a deep run in playoffs.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].