New London routs Hodag soccer in opener

A lack of depth and experience reared its head Tuesday night for the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team in its season opener.

The Hodags were unable to keep up with New London and fell 8-0 in a road non-conference matchup. The Bulldogs reached the goal-rule threshold with just two seconds remaining before full time as Darius Roolens scored for the fourth time in the contest. 

With only one senior on the roster, and not enough players to do full-sided scrimmages, new head coach John Vojta said the Hodags had the odds stacked against them Tuesday, playing their first game after only seven practice days.

“We ran into a buzzsaw there. I mean, no scrimmage games. We haven’t been able to even play 11 on 11. And they’re predominantly an old team. There’s a lot of seniors there, so we’re young,” he said. “It’s tough when you’re playing your offense against your defense and we never get to get to play together as an 11.”

New London had pressure on the Hodags from the jump on Tuesday, outshooting Rhinelander 44-4. They finally breeched the Rhinelander goal on a Drew Peters finish from the top of the 18 in the 18th minute and the Bulldog attack only built from there. 

Juan Efern Olea scored in the 23rd minute and again in the 28th as New London built a 3-0 lead at halftime. Roolens took over in the second, scoring on a breakaway in the 46th minute and again off a drop pass in the 47th. Kaden Hillman scored in the 55th minute to put the Bulldogs up 6-0 and Roolens scored twice in the final minute to finish the evening.

“We got to shore up our back line. No doubt about it,” Vojta said of a defense that was outflanked for breakaways on a number of occasions during the match. “We’re not playing it as a unit across the back. We’re susceptible to the through ball. And we’re going to fix that practice.”

The two keepers jockeying for the team’s No. 1 spot — sophomore Caden Ehrhardt and junior Eric Parish — split time in Tuesday’s contest. Ehrhardt made five saves on eight chances over the first 40 minutes, including a pair of nice tip saves in the 25th and 31st minutes. 

Parish recorded six stops on 11 chances over the final 40 minutes. He sent a point-blank chance by Roolens over the crossbar in the 50th minute.

“Caden played outstanding. He really kept us in the first half. Eric played well, as well,” Vojta said. “The problem was, is that we are already susceptible to the through balls and guys are out of gas in the second half when Eric was called in. I can’t say anything bad about our keepers, and I thought they played really well.” 

An already thin Rhinelander roster was further challenged by injury. Sophomore Kamden Kostrova missed the contest after injuring an ankle Monday night at practice. Junior Charlie Johnson, one of the Hodags’ two returning all-conference players, was limited due to a groin issue.

“It’s tough when you got key guys banged up,” Vojta said.

Rhinelander did not muster a shot on goal in the contest, but had a couple of chances on crosses in the second half. Johnson missed just wide on a header on a corner kick in the 44th minute and the team wasn’t able to redirect a couple of well-placed crosses later in the half.

“There were some good segments in the first half where we possessed the ball and we played one- or two-touch and we moved the ball around,” Vojta said. “We missed a tap-in goal late in the second half. So there’s some good things. We just we’re going to have to build on that and fix the not so good things.”

The good news for Rhinelander is it won’t play again until next week Thursday. The bad news is that game will come against defending GNC champion, and preseason conference favorite Lakeland at Mike Webster Stadium.

Vojta said there’s plenty of work to do in the interim.

“We’re going to be working on fundamentals, ball skills, fitness, and then we’re going to have to figure out how we can work 11 on 11, and I don’t have a plan for that yet,” he said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].