Woes continue for Hodag soccer in 5-1 loss to Waupaca

Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer coach Nathan Bates is still waiting for that “a-ha” moment for his side this season. 

It hasn’t happened yet for the Hodags, who continued a grueling stretch of play Monday by conceding four second-half goals in a 5-1 loss to Waupaca in a non-conference match at Mike Webster Stadium.

The Hodags (3-6-1, 2-2-0-1 Great Northern) have had a rough go of late, particularly on the defensive end, as they have won just one of their last six contests. Rhinelander has given up 23 goals in that span — four more than it allowed in all of 2023. While goalkeeper Barak Rappley has missed plenty of time recently due to injury, the senior was back in goal on Monday night and faced an onslaught of quality Waupaca chances. 

It all has Bates scratching his head, but after Monday night’s game he came back to a common refrain — that his team has yet to congeal into one cohesive unit opposed to 11 individual pieces. 

“Until we can become a team, we’re not going to have a great season,” he said. “I hate to say it but, right now, we’re not becoming a team yet. It’s very evident. When we do have good stuff happen, it’s because we’re all clicking, we’re communicating and we’re playing as a team. But, unfortunately, we have not had enough time where … we just haven’t clicked, man. We just have not become a team and I’m not sure why yet but I’m hoping before the season’s over we can have that happen.”

Waupaca had the better of play from the jump, but struggled to put balls on target in the opening half hour. That changed in the 32nd minute as Keegan Kirby put Brody Woitczak on a run through the middle of the defense. Rappley came out to challenge the breakaway, but couldn’t deny a hard shot inside the left post that put the Comets on the board.

That seemed to serve as a turning point in the match as Waupaca scored three more times in the first 16 minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach.

“We had plenty of opportunities and then they got a goal in on us and we shut down,” Bates said. “The defense fell apart. The offense fell apart.”

Liam Bloedow drilled a shot home from roughly 25 yards out just seconds into the final 40 minutes. Woitczak added his second of the night in the 48th minute, cleaning up a rebound after Rappley denied Kevin Hernandez on a breakaway chance. 

    Rhinelander’s Asher Rivord sends a ball down field against Waupaca’s Kevin Hernandez (7) during the first half of a non-conference boys’ soccer match at Mike Webster Stadium Monday, Sept. 23. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Hernandez got on the scoresheet for the Comets in the 56th minute, scoring on a breakaway off a through ball by Woitczak. 

“Waupaca came out and we allowed them to have too much time with the ball and too many opportunities with it,” Bates said. “It made them very deadly against our defense because we did allow them so much time and space with the ball. It allowed them to set up good passes and good shots on the goal. A lot of them, Barak, there was just nothing he could do with them. There were a lot of 1-v-1s with the goalie.”

Rhinelander got on the board in the 66th minute as Hart Hokens split defenders on a Charlie Johnson send and finished inside the left post, but the Comets answered just over three minutes later as Kirby fired a shot home in traffic from the edge of the 18-yard box. 

“We started clicking again,” Bates said. “We had a glimmer were (we) were working pretty hard and trying to string some passes together. When they did, they looked really good. And then that didn’t happen again. All I can hope is we can get a full 40 minutes of a game, maybe 60, I would really appreciate.”

Hokens was on the end of most of Rhinelander’s scoring chances in the match. He was snuffed out on a breakaway chance off a counterattack in the 13th minute, missed wide right after a turnover inside the 18 in the 21st minute and was denied on a look from 12 yards in the 23rd minute. 

Hokens missed high on a look from the right side of the box in the 60th minute and had a 1-on-the keeper chance stopped in the 63rd minute after splitting the defense on a punt from the back by Rappley. 

Rhinelander was outshot 24-9 in the contest. Rappley made six saves as the Comets finished with an 11-6 edge in shots on goal.

The Hodags are scheduled to be idle until next Thursday when they travel to Antigo to begin the second round of Great Northern Conference play. Typically, a 10-day layoff to work on things would come in handy for a team looking to find its way, but Bates said the long break isn’t much of a help, considering the Hodags’ thin roster. 

“I would really, really like to have a few more games in there,” Bates said, noting he would try to look to pickup a non-conference match in the interim. “We don’t have the numbers this year to scrimmage against ourselves. To have 10 days off without gameplay I think is pretty detrimental right now.”  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].