Team preview: RHS girls’ soccer

The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team is tired of being the bridesmaid in the Great Northern Conference.

The Hodags have finished second in the conference the last three years, and have never placed lower than third, but are still in search of the first conference title since 2018. 

With the majority of the offense returning from a team that went 12-3-4 last year, hopes are high that the Hodags can finally get back to the top of the GNC this year and, subsequently, make noise in the WIAA tournament.

“Last year, with such a young group of girls, we had a very successful season,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “Moving forward this year, I am hoping for the same. They’ve grown quite a bit, whether it be development and skill, confidence levels, things like that. So we’re very hopeful again for another really, really good strong season this year.”

It will be awhile before the Hodags open conference play at home against Mosinee April 17. Rhinelander will have several non-conference games prior to that — including a trio of games in the Hodag Dome to open the season this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Offense should not be an issue for the Hodags, who bring back plenty of firepower from a team that averaged 4.8 goals per game in the GNC, and 3.7 goals per game overall, a year ago.

While the Hodags graduated a couple of all-conference players from the attack in Morgan Van Zile and Leah Jamison, they have plenty of standouts returning, led by reigning GNC co-offensive player of the year Sophie Miljevich. The senior led the GNC in goals (16) and total points (39) a season ago. She finished with 23 goals and 13 assists overall on the year. 

She’s joined in the attack by a couple of sophomores who were second-team selections in the GNC last year, Ella Miljevich and Vivian Lamers. Ella Miljevich, Sophie’s younger sister, led the conference in assists (13) last year and was third in total points (25) while Lamers finished with 10 goals overall including eight in conference play. 

Seniors Leah Weigel and Ali Birk scored in conference play for the Hodags last year, as did sophomores Lyndsey Hoerchler and Kiley Pooch. Sophomores Kinzie Arneson and Hayley Schiek recorded assists. All of them give the Hodags plenty of options who can put the ball in the back of the net. 

“We do have quite a bit of firepower this year between our offense and midfield,” Bates said. “We don’t have just one person that could finish the ball and put the ball in the back of the net. We have six of them. I mean, between our left mid, our right mid, our center, our striker, our left forward, right forward. Pretty much, in my opinion right now, I think we have a very, very, very solid, strong, midfield and offensive line with a lot of firepower. Any one of them has crazy good speed, good shooting abilities.”

Because of all that offensive firepower, teams started playing the Hodags differently last year, committing extra personnel to defense while hoping to get lucky in the counterattack. That worked for Medford as it beat Rhinelander on penalties in GNC play after a scoreless draw. It also worked for Lakeland, which went 2-0-1 against the Hodags last year with all of its scoring done via free or penalty kicks.

“That’s something that we’ve been working on even starting today,” Bates said last week following the team’s first practice. “We were working on a lot of things from shooting from further out, opening up and creating space for them. Instead of trying to shove the ball down in there, we’re trying to recirculate the ball and open things up and try to bring it in that way. So we’re definitely prepared for that since it happened quite a few times last year. We’re going to work on that pretty heavily as well.”

The Hodags have some holes in the back of the formation. The team graduated GNC defensive player of the year Emma Chiamulera. Senior Mia Tulowitzky is the only player back on the defense who received all-conference honors last spring. She’s joined by a young group of players that include sophomores June Chiamulera, Becca Brost, Alexis Smith and Gabby Wanta.

“Emma’s going to be a hard one to fill the role for, obviously, but her little sister is no doubt, just like her,” Bates said. “Everybody knows Mia as well. She’s super aggressive and fast and she can distribute the ball very well also. With Alexis and Gabby and Becca, I mean, we still have a lot of really strong defensive players on the team.”

    Rylee Mickevicius stops a shot during Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer practice in the Hodag Dome Monday, March 24. Mickevicius, a sophomore, and senior Emalee Detienne are vying to take over the starting goalkeeper position vacated after three-time all-GNC honoree Mya Krouze graduated. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Those players will be working to keep shots away from a new goalkeeper as the Hodags must replace a three-time all-conference honoree in Mya Krouze. Bates said senior Emalee Detienne and sophomore Rylee Mickevicius are battling for the starting spot during preseason camp. 

“We do have a couple goalkeepers and we’re working with right now. I’m not sure who’s going to fill the role yet, 100%, but both of them are looking really well,” he said.

The Hodags will have plenty of chances to settle that position and knock off any rust prior to the start of conference play. Rhinelander opens at home against Three Lakes Thursday night, will host Eau Claire North the following night and wrap up opening weekend against Marshfield Saturday afternoon. All three games are slated for the Hodag Dome. 

The Hodags will face two more Wisconsin Valley Conference squads in Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids in the next two weeks and will also travel to Lake Mills for an invite April 12. 

“If you look at our schedule on who we’re playing this year, we did that for a reason to try to challenge the girls early in the year to try to get them prepped and ready for our conference play,” Bates said. “We definitely have some stiff competition coming up right away, but I think the girls are prepared for it.”

For the Hodags to win the conference, they’ll have to get through arch-nemesis Lakeland. The T-Birds have won three straight conference crowns. Though the team lost three all-conference picks from last year, including the No. 2 scorer in the conference, Josie Wentland, Lakeland had the top defense in the conference last year and returns all-conference goalkeeper Ava Evenhouse. 

“I’m going to go for the top, like always. We do have some good competition,” Bates said. “Lakeland always throws together really solid squad. Medford did really well last year. They lost some key pieces from their team last year … But they had a big squad last year. They had a really large JV squad and (coach Tanya) Tessmann she puts together a pretty good program up there. You never count (Northland) Pines out either.”

If the Hodags fare well in the conference, odds are they will have a chance to make a run in the WIAA tournament. Rhinelander played last year’s sectional champion, Rice Lake, to a scoreless draw in non-conference play. The Warriors graduated seven seniors off the squad and the other sectional finalist, Ashland, bid farewell to nine seniors. 

“We do have that opportunity this year in my opinion with the squad that we have,” Bates said. “I’m going to take it one game at a time, but I don’t disagree. I think we have a very good chance here to make a deep run.”

As if the Hodags needed any extra motivation, Rhinelander is the pre-selected host for the WIAA Division 3 sectional final on June 14. Should the Hodags make it that far, they would be vying for the first trip to the WIAA state tournament since 2015. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].