RHS soccer cracks Medford’s defensive shell, rolls to 5-0 win

Medford used a highly defensive formation against the Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team to great effect last year, stealing a couple of points from the Hodags by winning a penalty kick shootout after playing to a 0-0 draw at Mike Webster Stadium.

In early control of the GNC coming off a win at defending conference champion Lakeland, the Hodags were bound and determined Thursday night not to have the same thing happen again.

Vivian Lamers scored three times and Ella Miljevich added a pair of goals as the Hodags defeated the Raiders 5-0 in Rhinelander.

Medford (1-5-1, 0-2-0-0 Great Northern) tried to employ its defensive strategy again, dropping as many as nine players inside the 18-yard box at times when Rhinelander was on the attack, but the Hodags were ready for it and found success on Thursday scoring from long-range.

“We kind of anticipated Medford was going to come out tonight and kind of stuff us and try to stack the box. But it didn’t work too well this time because we’ve been preparing for things like this and the girls showed it tonight. They worked the ball really well. They were moving around, opening up opportunities, shooting from outside the 18. 

“It’s a lot of things we’ve been doing all season because we anticipated a couple of teams trying to pull it like they did last year. So we weren’t going to allow us to go to a shootout again.”

Lamers got the scoring started for the Hodags in the 17th minute on one of those looks from the outside, firing a pass from Miljevich inside the right post from 25 yards.

Bates said while there was a little sigh of relief once the first goal went in, the goal seemed inevitable with the amount of pressure the Hodags were applying.

“The girls kept pressuring, kept pressuring and shooting and we knew it was a matter of time,” he said. “I can’t say enough about how well all of the girls … (are) just bringing the ball up, distributing it, moving it around. I mean, they did a great job as a team.”

Lamers hit again in the 44th minute from about 20 yards as she made a run up the left flank on a ball by Hayley Schiek and fired through traffic inside the right post. The sophomore completed her hat trick, and made it 3-0, in the 49th minute as she converted on a penalty kick following a Medford handball infraction in its own box. 

Ella Miljevich added to the lead in the 55th minute on another shot from outside the penalty area, firing home a drop pass from Kiley Pooch. The Hodags then cashed in on one of the last of their 11 corner kicks in the match as Ella Miljevich headed home Sophie Miljevich’s service into the box in the 71st minute.

“That was about time because we’ve had a lot of close calls with them,” Bates said of scoring off of a corner kick. “But man, Ella got right in there. She got her head on it. It was a beautifully-placed ball and then she got her head right on it. It was kind of cool to see her sister give her the assist off the corner on a header.”

    Rhinelander’s Becca Brost deflects the ball away from Medford’s Kodi Rappe during the first half of a GNC girls’ soccer game at Mike Webster Stadium Thursday, April 24. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

It proved to be a very quiet night for the Hodag defense as Rhinelander outshot the Raiders 46-2. The Raiders’ most threatening chance came in the 18th minute, shortly after Lamers’s first strike, as Kodi Rappe charged into the box off the left flank, only the misfire wide left on a shot from the edge of the 6. The Raiders did not record a single shot on goal in the match.

“It’s kind of, I’m sure, a little bit boring for our keeper back there and stuff like that, but at the end of the day that’s what our end goal is — our defense to be strong enough, and our midfield and forwards, to keep the pressure down,” Bates said. “We’ve emphasized thoroughly this year on doing a high press and the girls have been doing a really good job with a high press.”

Rhinelander led 1-0 at halftime despite outshooting the Raiders 20-2 at that point. Sophie Miljevich hit the crossbar on a penalty kick chance in the 23rd minute and Medford goalkeeper Peyton Boelk made a save on a header attempt by Lamers on the rebound. Boelk made 21 saves in defeat for Medford.

Rhinelander rounds out the first half of GNC play this week, traveling to Antigo this evening before hosting Northland Pines Thursday night at Mike Webster Stadium.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].