Team review: RHS boys’ soccer

From the onset, first-year Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer coach John Vojta conceded that rebuilding a soccer program that was just three years removed from a run to the WIAA state tournament would take some time.

With a roster full of underclassmen, the team’s third head coach in three seasons and coming off a 4-10-2 campaign in 2024, Vojta’s assessment proved to be accurate. 

The end result for Rhinelander was a 1-13-4 record and a last-place finish in the Great Northern Conference. Despite the final record, the team showed signs of improvement during the second half of the season, and was much more competitive the second time through the GNC schedule. 

“I considered it a good season of my mind,” Vojta said earlier this month during the team’s banquet. “From where we started at the beginning to where we ended at the end, I think there was great growth improvement, and I think the boys came together and became a family, and a team.”

Here are five storylines from the team’s season.

Early lumps

As it turned out, the Hodags faced a difficult schedule right out of the gate. In the first seven games of the season, Rhinelander faced the teams that ended up as the top four seeds in their half-regional — Lakeland, Shawano, New London and Mosinee — falling to them by a combined 30-0. The Hodags also faced a Three Lakes/Phelps squad that advanced to the sectional finals in Division 4 and a solid Wausau East squad that ended up as the No. 2 seed in its Division 2 regional. 

The Hodags, with roughly 20 players on the roster, needed to play games — as games were the team’s best opportunity to play 11-on-11 — but the team’s youth and lack of depth showed early in th going.

“We can play with all these teams in spurts. Not 40 minutes, not 60 minutes, not 80 minutes. We can play with them in spurts,” Vojta said after the team fell at home to Wausau East 5-0 Sept. 6, conceding four goals early in the second half of that contest. 

Finding their stride

Though the Hodags had played Medford to a 0-0 tie earlier in the season, Vojta said a 0-0 tie at Waupaca in non-conference play Sept. 25 served as the turning point of the season for his team. That night the Hodags were heavily outshot 28-3 but, thanks to a nine-save effort by junior Eric Parish, preserved a clean sheet and earned a draw. 

That draw appeared to be a point of delineation for the team. The Hodags went 0-9-1 before that contest, and were outscored 28-1 in that span. Including the Waupaca tie, the Hodags were 1-4-3 in their final eight games, with a goal differential of 15-6.

“I felt that this was what the team needed to see and believe,” Vojta said during the team’s banquet. “We ended up with a 0-0 draw, and it turned our team’s season around. Our results improved with each game after that.”

Rhinelander had much more competitive games with the GNC’s top two teams — Lakeland and Mosinee — after the Waupaca draw and got its first and only win of the season at home Oct. 7 against Medford.

“It’s a great win for us to get out of here, 1-0,” Vojta said afterward “I mean, I thought we played outstanding against Mosinee. We had a couple mental lapses. We said, tonight, no mental lapses. So again, week by week, game by game, we’re building, I think, and getting stronger.”

Tough finish

Rhinelander actually got the better of Medford in both regular season meetings —winning a penalty kick shootout in Medford after the two sides played to a draw Sept. 11. 

The history of close matches between the Hodags and Raiders repeated itself in the WIAA tournament as the sides played to a 1-1 draw following 100 minutes of regulation and extra time. Unfortunately for Rhinelander, Medford got the last laugh in PKs this time, winning the shootout 6-5 in eight rounds. It marked the seventh times in the last 11 meetings that the sides needed penalties to settle things after a draw. All three playoff meetings between the teams since 2021 have gone to a shootout. 

“It came down to count penalty kicks, a matter of inches on a couple of them,” Vojta said. “ Eric, darn near saved three of those things. So, you know, an inch or two, one way or the other. So if it’s got to end, I’m not disappointed with that end because that was a great match.”

Statbook

    In this Oct. 9, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Eric Parish guards the goal during a penalty kick shootout in a GNC boys’ soccer game at Merrill. Paris posted a 1-5-3 record on the season with a 2.45 goals against average and a .813 save percentage. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander didn’t have a ton of offense this year, but junior Asher Rivord created the most of it, tallying three goals and an assist to lead the team with seven points on the season. That helped him earn second-team honors in the GNC. 

Sophomore Owen Evers scored twice — both on PKs — during the year and freshman Henry Bonardelli had a goal in the 1-1 draw at Merrill Oct. 9. Junior Aidan Lueder had the Hodags’ goal in the playoff match against Medford and Roan Childs added an assist for the team.

Both Parish and junior Caden Ehrhardt saw plenty of time in goal this season, with Parish taking over the bulk of the duties during the second half of the season. Parish went 1-5-2 with a 2.45 goals against average and a .813 save percentage. Ehrhardt, a sophomore, was 0-8-1 with a 4.96 goals against average and a .658 save percentage. 

What’s next

The good news for Rhinelander, is virtually the entire squad from this past season returns. Soren Dumar, who saw limited varsity minutes, was the only senior on the roster this year. Rhinelander will bring back all three of its all-conference selections in Rivord, Lueder and midfielder/defender Charlie Johnson. 

Considering that, and given that 14 first- or second-team all-conference selections will graduate, Vojta said his team has the potential to make a serious step forward and return to being one of the top teams in the GNC.

“I don’t want to tip other teams off to it, but I’m telling you that Rhinelander Hodag soccer got a lot better this year, and I wholeheartedly believe that next year, we are going to be a force in the conference,” he said. “We definitely moving up from where we’re at.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].