Hodag soccer draws with Medford, falls in PKs

The Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team has yet to find the back of the net through two-plus soccer games this season. That ultimately cost the Hodags a couple of points in the Great Northern Conference opener on Tuesday.

The Hodags played the Raiders to a 0-0 draw in Medford but were skunked in the penalty kick shootout, losing 3-0 with an extra point in the conference standings at stake.

Barak Rappley made nine saves in regulation as the Hodag defense preserved a clean sheet, but he was unable to stop any of the Raiders’ three chances in penalties. 

Without senior Hart Hokens (red card) and Aiden Ostermann (leg), coach Nathan Bates said the short-handed Hodags did well to come out of Medford with a point. 

“The kids fought hard. Like I said early in the year, it’s going to be figuring each other out,” Bates said. “We’re slowly but surely starting to come around. It hurt tonight having out Hart and Aiden, but we ended up in a draw.”

Penalty kicks were something that famously carried the Hodags to a WIAA state tournament berth two years ago after Rhinelander won three straight shootouts in the playoffs — including one in Medford. The Hodags didn’t have nearly the same touch on Tuesday. Keeper Cale Schulz stopped Charlie Johnson’s look to the near post in Round 1, and that ended up being the only shot the Hodags put on frame during the shootout. Karter Massey skied his attempt high and wide right in Round 2 while Asher Rivord tugged his chance wide left in Round 3. 

Conversely, Medford got Rappley on his left foot before firing back to keeper’s right for conversions by Michael Meyer and Grant Neubauer in the first two rounds. Dominic Fennell tucked a shot in the upper right corner in round 3 to clinch it for the Raiders. 

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done in penalties,” Bates said. “I don’t know what happened there. We practice them and it didn’t show that we did … It’s something we practice every practice. The boys are pretty hard on themselves and disappointed with the outcome. We do practice PKs because of the rule we have in the conference. Tonight wasn’t our night.”

The Hodags did well to get to penalties given how Medford controlled the first half. The Raiders outshot Rhinelander 10-6 over the opening 40 minutes but didn’t have anything to show for it. Rhinelander finally got some pressure early in the second half before withstanding another Medford surge over the final 15 minutes to preserve the draw.

“We started off slow,” Bates said. “Medford came out hot and heavy like they typically have in years past. We didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities there in the first half. We didn’t have the speed to get past their back line. We changed up some formation stuff during the game, got a couple of opportunities, but not a whole lot.”

Rhinelander’s best scoring chance in the match came off a Michael Schiek corner kick in the 54th minute. He crossed it into the box for Johnson, who headed the ball to the right post, only to see Schulz snatch the ball away at the last second on a diving save attempt. 

“It was a beautiful header Charlie had there,” Bates said. “That was a great save by the keeper. Charlie had a couple of really good shots in my opinion throughout the game. He had three really good opportunities that were some pretty good shots. One went a little over, one went far but he also had a beautiful header there.”

    Rhinelander’s Roan Childs defends Medford’s Dominic Fennell during the second half of a GNC boys’ soccer game at Medford Tuesday, Sept. 3. (Matt Frey/Star News)
  

Rappley tipped a chance from just outside the 18 by Neubauer just over the bar in the 62nd minute and the Raiders nearly converted moments later following a corner kick. Medford ended up with a 2 on 1 chance with Rappley caught out of position, but Massey was able to clear the ball away just before it crossed the goal line. 

“Karter came flying out of nowhere and cleaned that one up,” Bates said. “That was amazing. Barak had a couple of good saves throughout the game. Karter had a couple of good stops back on the defensive line.”

Medford finished the night with an 18-11 advantage in total shots and a 9-4 edge in shots on goal.  

Rhinelander (0-1-1, 0-0-0-1 Great Northern) hosted Antigo at home Thursday in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Rhinelander will host Mosinee at Mike Webster Stadium this coming Tuesday. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].