Hodag soccer falls at Mosinee 3-0

With wins hard to come by this season for the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team, the squad has had to look elsewhere for indicators of improvement. The Hodags saw some of those Thursday on the road at Mosinee.

Joe Southworth scored twice and Mosinee defeated Rhinelander 3-0 at Edgewood Park in GNC play. However, Thursday’s result marked a big improvement from the Hodags’ first match with the conference runner-up Indians, who beat Rhinelander 8-0 last month at Mike Webster Stadium.

“Both (assistant) coach (Nathan) Bates and I are just absolutely thrilled with how they played,” coach John Vojta said afterward. “We knocked the ball well. We created chances, we kept possession. We had some guys on special assignment, and they did those to stop one of their prolific goal scorers. Still a couple minor mistakes, but very pleased with how they played.”

In particular, Rhinelander kept Mosinee’s top offensive threat Shawn Sodowski in check Thursday night. He scored four times and had an assist in the first meeting against the Hodags but was held off the scoresheet in the rematch. Vojta said junior Asher Rivord drew the assignment of man-marking Sodowski most of the evening. 

“Asher Rivord was given that task, and he did an excellent job, but also the other 10 guys that were on the pitch at the same time with him had to do their jobs, and it was just a total complete team effort tonight,” he said. “We had a discussion about effort and putting the work in and the guys really they really came to play. They left it all on the field tonight.”

Southworth had a pair of tough individual efforts to stake Mosinee to a 2-0 lead at halftime. He fired what looked to be a cross from just inside the end line, outside the box on the left side that snuck inside the right post in the ninth minute. He scored again in the 35th minute, winning a goal kick and firing a shot from roughly 40 yards just underneath the crossbar. 

Cameron Kuklinski scored Mosinee’s third goal, finishing from roughly six yards after Evan Karst tapped ahead a cross into the box. 

Mosinee finished with a 20-6 edge in the shot count on Thursday, The Hodags managed two shots on goal in the match. 

“We had shots. I don’t want to say that I technically say they were shots on goal, but it was an exciting game and we were in the game from start to finish, and that’s what’s important,” Vojta said. “Hoping that we’ve turned a corner here and kind of can see what it takes to compete.”

Eric Parish made his third straight start in goal from Rhinelander, recording five saves in the defeat. Rhinelander’s other varsity keeper, Caden Ehrhardt, played in the field on Thursday and Vojta noted that he made notable contributions in the Hodag attack.

“Caden actually played forward, and he did an outstanding job of pressuring, putting balls down, and he’s actually a guy that I think got a couple of shots off tonight,” he said. 

Rhinelander (0-11-2, 0-7-1-0 Great Northern) returns home tonight to take on Medford, one of the two teams it has tied so far this season. Rhinelander won a shootout after playing the Raiders to a scoreless tie last month in Medford. The Raiders have had better form of late, taking Merrill to penalty kicks and beating Antigo in two of their last three conference matches. Rhinelander will travel to Merrill Thursday to take on the Bluejays.

“We’re looking forward to it. I told the boys tonight, ‘If you can bring us that effort and play like that every game and keep progressing, good things will happen,’” Vojta said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].