Hokens scores twice as Hodag soccer snaps skid

On Thursday evening the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team snapped a losing streak that spanned six games and 26 days.

Hart Hokens scored twice, including what proved to be the game-winner with just over five minutes to play, as the Hodags defeated Mosinee 2-1 at Edgewood Park.

It was Rhinelander’s first win since defeating Black River Falls 3-0 in the Hodag Invite back on Sept. 14. More importantly, it moved the Hodags (4-8-1, 3-4-0-1 Great Northern) back into a third-place tie in the GNC with Mosinee (4-9-2, 3-5-0-1) entering the final week of the regular season. 

“I’ve been waiting all season for the boys to click together as a team and they did tonight,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said afterward. “They looked really, really good. We had a really good passing game, a lot of really good shooting opportunities. It was fun. It was a good watch and was really nice to get back in the win column tonight and see the kids actually play together as a team.”

Hokens has proved to be one of the top offensive threats for the Hodags this season, and used his speed to set up both of Rhinelander’s goals Thursday. The winner came in the 75th minute on a ball played by Michael Schiek up the right flank.

“Hart had another beautiful run on the outside right and had a really hard shot from outside the 18 from the right side of the field and it went upper 90, just beautiful over the top of the goalie,” Bates said.

Hokens put the Hodags on the board midway through the first half, cashing in on a through ball from the back line from fellow senior Aiden Ostermann.

“It was a beautiful through ball from Aiden Ostermann up to Hart from the defensive line in the first. Hart got away on the breakaway and, on that breakaway, we were getting run down pretty good by the Mosinee defender and he made a hard cut with a really nice shot,” Bates said.

Mosinee answered a short time later as Omar Ingram headed home a corner kick to square the match and the 1-1 draw stood through halftime and well into the second. 

According to statistics kept by the team, the Hodags outshot Mosinee 14-10 and had a slight 5-4 edge in shots on goal. Barak Rappley made three saves as Rhinelander completed a regular season sweep of Mosinee. The Hodags also defeated the Indians 2-0 when the sides played in Rhinelander Sept. 10.

“It seems like the boys step up to the occasion when we play against them. That’s something we did again this evening,” Bates said. “We pretty well dominated the whole second half, the majority of it. We dominated pretty much that whole half. We had a lot of opportunities that half and one of them finally went in, which was great to see.”

The Hodags were set to learn their playoff fate Sunday evening as the D3 sectional seeding meeting took place after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will begin the postseason on either Oct. 22 or 24 based on where it’s seeded within its 10-team regional.

Rhinelander will host Medford tonight at Mike Webster Stadium and conclude the regular season Thursday at Northland Pines. The Hodags are looking to avenge a 0-0 draw to the Raiders back on Sept. 3 where Medford earned an extra conference point via a penalty kick shootout victory. Those are the only points the Raiders have scored so far this year in GNC play.

“I hope we have a healthy team. The last time we played them, we didn’t have a full squad. I hope we have our full squad this time so we can go back and try to put a W on the board and not a tie,” Bates said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].