Hodag soccer forced to share GNC crown after 2-0 loss to Lakeland

The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team had a chance Thursday to not only win the Great Northern Conference title outright, but also establish itself as the team to beat in its half of the sectional for the upcoming WIAA playoffs.

The Hodags achieved neither of those objectives thanks to another frustrating loss to a longtime thorn in their side. 

Cale Quade converted a penalty kick in the 45th minute, and Bobbi Lee added insurance in the 69th as Lakeland stunned Rhinelander 2-0 in the regular season finale at Mike Webster Stadium. 

Lakeland’s only path to secure a share of a fourth straight conference title was to beat Rhinelander in regulation on Thursday. That’s exactly what happened and, while Rhinelander claimed its first conference title since 2018, it was forced to share that crown with a team it could very likely face again late next week with a trip to the sectional finals on the line. 

“Definitely not the result we wanted tonight,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “I mean, we had a couple unlucky breaks that happened. I mean, it definitely doesn’t tell the tale of how the game went, but end of the day, we lost. You know, the score’s the score. It’s not what we were looking for, but that’s OK. I mean, we still got a conference championship that was one of our first goals that we set out for the season as a team.”

After a scoreless first half, fortunes turned for the Hodags when defender June Chiamulera attempted to clear away a Lakeland throw in early in the second half. Video and photographs show the ball caroming off Chiamulera’s shoulder, however, the officials deemed a handball foul was committed inside the Rhinelander penalty area and awarded Lakeland a penalty kick. Quade tucked her chance from the spot inside the left post past a diving Rylee Mickevicus to give Lakeland a 1-0 lead. 

    Rhinelander’s June Chiamulera attempts to deflect the ball during the second half of a GNC girls’ soccer game at Mike Webster Stadium Thursday, May 29. Chiamulera was called for a handball foul on the play that awarded Lakeland a penalty kick, which Cale Quade converted to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The laws of soccer state that a handball is a foul if it is a deliberate action, or if the offending player gains an unfair advantage by making their body unnaturally bigger with their arm or hand. Bates said, from his vantage point, the ball may have grazed Chiamulera’s arm upon the deflection, but he did not believe it rose to the level of creating an unfair advantage. 

“From my view, from what I saw as it hit the shoulder and hit her hand after the fact. It didn’t look like it was intentional. I’m not going to say that the officiating crew was wrong on it, but at the end of the day, it did not look like a deliberate handball as a rule reads,” he said.

Either way, the penalty put the Hodags on the back foot and forced them to do something that has been a challenge for them over the last few years — get a shot past Lakeland junior goalkeeper Ava Evenhouse. 

It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Evenhouse bobbled, but eventually corralled a free kick chance by Vivian Lamers in 47th minute and then stopped a deflection off a Sophie Miljevich corner kick in the 49th. The most challenging of Evenhouse’s seven saves came in the 55th minute as Lamers fired a left-footed shot between defenders from the top of the 18. The shot looked destined to sneak inside the right post before Evenhouse stepped in front of it at the last moment. Evenhouse was also up to the task in the 63rd minute as Lindsey Hoerchler deflected a Lamers cross from the top of the 18 on frame.

Evenhouse was not available the first time Rhinelander and Lakeland met this season. The Hodags won that game 1-0 April 22 in Minocqua to establish the advantage they carried in the conference race all the way until the final contest of the regular season. 

“Yeah, she’s a good goalie,” Bates said. “I mean, I’ve said that since day one, and she is. In my opinion, she’s by far the best goalkeeper in the conference, and she showed that again tonight because we had a lot of pressure on her, and we put a lot of shots in there, and she stopped them.”

Lee effectively extinguished Rhinelander’s comeback hopes in the 69th minute, firing a one-touch shot from the top-left edge of the 18-yard box to the upper right hand corner of the goal.

“It came in off throw in there, and Lee had just a heck of a shot from that corner,” Bates said. “I mean, there’s nothing Rylee was going to do. It was a rip, and it came from outside there, and it was a really great shot she had.” 

It marked Lakeland’s third win in the last five tries against Rhinelander. In all three of them, Rhinelander lost despite throughly controlling the stat sheet and saw Lakeland go ahead on a shot from either a penalty or free kick. On Thursday, the Hodags outshot Lakeland 21-6 and had a 7-3 edge in shots on goal. 

“Somehow, they have a horseshoe that’s hanging around that’s very, very lucky, because anybody that watched the game tonight and (looking at) the stats on the paper, I mean, we dominated that game and somehow they got one,” Bates said. “I don’t know how. I don’t have an answer for you on that one. God, I don’t want to call it luck, but it’s luck.”

Rhinelander finishes the regular season with a 12-5-0 record. Bates was quick to try to deflect the sting of Thursday’s loss and reflect on what was otherwise a strong regular season for his team. 

“The girls I know are upset with the outcome tonight, but, like I told you before, I’m very proud of them,” he said. “I mean, if you look at our team all in all, I mean, we have nine starting sophomores on this lineup here. Lakeland graduates a pile of (seniors) ...  Moving forward into the playoffs, we’re going to take one game at a time, and we’re going to go out there and do what we’ve been doing all season, (which) is win.”

Rhinelander and Lakeland are the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in their half of a WIAA Division 3 sectional that gets underway tonight as Mosinee plays host to Antigo in a quarterfinal contest. The winner of that game will head to Rhinelander for the regional semifinals on Thursday. Should the Hodags win that game, they would face either Waupaca or Medford Saturday night in a regional final. 

Lakeland, meanwhile, will open against Merrill and, with a win, would face either Ashland or Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia in the regional finals. 

Should both teams get through those hurdles, they would meet again June 12 at Mike Webster Stadium in the sectional semifinals. 

Rhinelander and Lakeland have met in the playoffs each of the last two seasons, and Bates seemed to think a third postseason meeting is all but inevitable.

“I think we’ll probably end up facing off with them again, and we’re just going to keep doing what we did against them now and first time. I mean, keep putting offensive pressure on there, and see what happens,” Bates said. “They always come to play. I mean, (Lakeland coaches) Stephanie (Wolf) and Ihor (Myshchyshyn) put together a good program every single year, and we always know boys and girls, it’s always a battle with them. And it’s going to continue to be a battle, but I look forward to it. I would love to play them again.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].