RHS soccer drops GNC showdown at Lakeland

Things went according to plan for the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team as they went toe-to-toe with rival Lakeland in the first half of Thursday night’s battle for first place in the GNC in Minocqua. The plan went awry moments into the second half, however, as the Hodags saw things got from bad to worse over the final 40 minutes.

Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella scored twice and had an assist, while the Hodags lost starting goalkeeper Barak Rappley to a facial injury as Rhinelander fell 3-0 to the T-Birds.

Gironella converted a penalty kick in the 43rd minute. Rappley was kneed in the head by Lakeland’s Jack Stepec roughly seven minutes later while the two scrambled for a ball on the back post. Freshman Caden Ehrhardt made three saves in Rappley’s absence, but Lakeland tacked on a pair of insurance goals as it leapfrogged Rhinelander for the top spot in the conference standings. 

“We had a good plan going and it was working really well, and then they got a PK on us,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “When that happened we had to change some things up. It was kind of a domino effect. That happened, then our goalkeeper got kicked in the head and now he’s at the hospital getting stitches. It kind of just went downhill after the PK.”

That was part of an up and down end to last week for the Hodags, who returned home Saturday and split a pair of games in a home invite, beating Black River Falls 3-0 before losing to Shawano by the same margin.

On Thursday, the Hodags were using a defensive-minded game plan, and played Lakeland to a 0-0 draw at the half. Things turned south quickly for the Hodags, however. The penalty kick was a result of a foul after Gironella was taken down inside the Rhinelander penalty area by Hodag defender John Turek. Gironella tucked a ball inside the right post after getting Rappley to lean the opposite way. 

A short time later, Gironella launched another attack that ultimately led to Rappley’s departure. He sent the ball through the middle to Ethan Seeliger who then crossed to the far post toward Stepec. Rappley flew to the spot to take the ball away and, as he did, Stepec’s knee made contact with Rappley’s head — resulting in a large gash above the senior’s right eyebrow. There was no foul or card given on the play.

“It was hard to tell from my angle,” Bates said. “Any time there’s any sort of contact like that, it still should have been a foul. Yes, they were going for the ball. Barak said he took a knee to it, said it was fair play. He was coming out and they were coming together and he took a knee to a head.”

Ehrhardt made his first two saves in place of Rappley, but got beat to keeper’s right after Gironella made a free run up the middle to give Lakeland a 2-0 lead at the hour mark. Marshall Holmquist tacked on an additional insurance goal in the 74th minute as he fired a cross from Gironella between Ehrhardt’s legs.

“He did a great job coming in like that, his first game against one of the tougher opponents in the conference,” Bates said of Ehrhardt’s unscheduled varsity debut. “I thought he did very well. He’s young, he’s a freshman and had a couple of hiccups here and there but, all and all, I thought he did a great job stepping in off the bench like that.”

Rhinelander, which entered the game without forward Asher Rivord (knee), played more of a defensive game in the first half, which seemed to slow the T-Birds’ attack. Lakeland had only eight shots over the first 40 minutes — compared to 13 over the second 40 — and Rappley was able to sniff out all of the T-Birds advances on the goal. 

After conceding the penalty, however, the Hodags abandoned their defensive mindset as they tried to chase an equalizer. 

“We switched some things up because, if you lose 1-0 or 5-0, you still lose. We changed up our formation and it’s just kind of the way it went down,” Bates said. “I know they were going to have the better end of it based on what they were doing and how we were playing the game. That was kind of the game plan. We had a couple of opportunities. At the end of the day it just didn’t happen.”

    Rhinelander’s Dean Gillingham attempts to beat Lakeland goalkeeper Talan Pockat to the ball during the first half of a GNC boys’ soccer game in Minocqua Thursday, Sept. 12. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander had just six total shots in the match, and only three on frame. The Hodags’ best look came in the 25th minute when sophomore Aidan Lueder got free on the right flank, but fired his open look over the goal. 

Aiden Ostermann registered both of Rhinelander’s shots in the second half, including a free kick chance in the 47th minute that was stopped by Lakeland keeper Talan Pockat. 

Rhinelander’s loss further bunched what was already a tight race atop the GNC standings. Lakeland vaulted back into the lead with eight points, while Rhinelander remained on seven points and Northland Pines — thanks to a 6-1 win over Mosinee — moved to six points. The Hodags will see the Eagles this coming Thursday at Mike Webster Stadium to close out the first half of the conference season.

“We’ve got a lot of season,” Bates said. “There’s been a lot of ups and downs. Mosinee took (Lakeland) to a tie. Antigo beat Medford. The conference is wide open in my opinion still. I just want them to understand that it’s not over. There’s still a lot of play left.”

Hodag Invite

Stitched up following Thursday night’s game, Rappley was back on Saturday and played three halves in the home invite. He recorded seven saves and a clean sheet against the Tigers, but let in two goals in the first half against the Hawks before Ehrhardt came back in to finish out that contest. 

Rhinelander caught a break right away Saturday morning as a misplayed header off a corner kick led to Black River Falls committing an own goal in the second minute, which put the Hodags ahead. Rhinelander added to the advantage with a Hart Hokens breakaway score in the 27th minute and a nice finish off the left side from Lueder in the 45th minute off an Ostermann cross. 

“It was good. We had some goals, had some opportunities,” Hodag assistant coach Morgan Voigt said. “We have areas to grow in and we did see some growth. We have a fairly young team and we were missing some players today. We had to move some people around.”

Rhinelander couldn’t keep up with a speedy Shawano side in the second game. Brayden Mead gave the Hawks the lead and Warner Beyer added a penalty kick goal as Shawano took a 2-0 lead to halftime. Maverick Theis finished a cross from Beyer in the 53rd minute to account for the final margin.

Shawano outshot the Hodags 23-6 in the second match. Rhinelander did not register a shot on goal.

“They’re an aggressive team. They had a great passing game and our boys were looking tired,” Voigt said. “We came out and created a couple opportunities, but Shawano had more and they capitalized more on those.”

Rappley made three saves in the first half before giving way to Ehrhardt who stopped five of the six shots on goal he faced over the final 40 minutes. 

“Caden was way more comfortable in the net,” Voigt said. “He looked more comfortable. He was getting confident. He’s seeing some varsity minutes, which are going to be crucial for him in his development. He’s a young keeper, so we need to keep getting him minutes we can and it works out good for him.”

Rhinelander (3-3-1, 2-0-0-1 Great Northern) travels to Wausau East for a non-conference contest tonight.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].