Rhinelander boys’ soccer ‘getting better’ in two losses

The Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team continued to get more experience in two shutout losses last week.

Lakeland beat the Hodags 7-0 in a Great Northern Conference contest on Thursday. Rhinelander fell 2-0 to non-conference Three Lakes on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Both games took place at Mike Webster Stadium in Rhinelander.

Lakeland 7, Rhinelander 0

    Dean Gillingham uses his head to make a play in the first half of a conference game against Lakeland Thursday, Sept. 4 at Mike Webster Stadium in Rhinelander. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Even in defeat, Hodag coach John Vojta saw a lot of positives from his team.

“It’s the best we played, to be honest with you,” he said. “I know the scoreboard doesn’t reflect it, but guys were getting stuck in. They were playing well. Even Ihor (Myshchyshyn) from Lakeland said, ‘You guys played a lot better than what I’ve seen.’ I know the score doesn’t reflect it, but I’m happy with how they played. They’re getting better. We’re young, but they’re getting better.”

The Thunderbirds scored three times in the first half and four in the second. However, it could’ve been more if not for the play of keeper Caden Ehrhardt.

Ehrhardt was credited with nine saves on a wet and rainy Thursday night. He laid out for a diving stop off the foot of Lakeland’s Will Kimball in the 22nd minute. It led to a corner kick, eventually cleared.

“(Caden’s) a first teamer, no doubt,” Vojta said. “He’s a first teamer. He should be first team all-conference in my mind. He’s going to face probably the most shots in the conference, and he’s going to have the most saves. Unfortunately, his goals against are not going to be favorable for him, but he should be first team. I haven’t seen a better keeper yet.”

In the 50th minute, Ehrhardt dove to deflect the ball away before Lakeland’s Marshall Holmquist could get a foot on it.

A few minutes later, Ehrhardt tipped the ball away from the net for another save off a shot from Lakeland’s Ethan Seeliger.

“(Caden’s) active, he commands the game and his ability to make saves that, when I played professional, I’ve seen him make saves that pros make,” Vojta said.

The Hodags kept Lakeland out of the net for the first 20 minutes. The Thunderbirds got their first goal in the 21st minute courtesy of Seeliger.

“First, we have to shore up our defense, which coach (Nathan) Bates and coach (Taylor) Siegmeier have done a great job of,” Vojta said. “Again, the scoreboard doesn’t reflect it, but if you look back where we were against New London, where we were against Three Lakes the other night — if we played tonight like we played against Three Lakes, I think that outcome’s different.”

Ehrhardt was aggressive all night. He collided with Holmquist as both players went for the ball in the 29th minute. Kimball kicked the ball into the open net for Lakeland’s second goal of the contest.

The Thunderbirds totaled 25 shots and nine corner kicks. One of those corner kicks paid off in the first half. Kimball sent the ball over the head of Ehrhardt. Seeliger was on the receiving end, tapping it in for his second goal of the game. Seeliger totaled six points in the game — two goals and assists.

Rhinelander had six shots, three on goal. Dean Gillingham had two of the better looks for the Hodags. He shot the ball over the net and out of play in the 13th minute. 

“We’re trying to get them to play one- and two-touch and play the ball wide, get it to the corner flags and get crosses in, but we’re just not there right now ability-wise,” Vojta said regarding the offense. “So it’s a work in progress.”

Late in the first half, Gillingham got his head on a ball, saved by Lakeland goalie Talan Pockat. 

A dangerous ball in the box saw Pockat make one of his three saves in the game in the 25th minute. 

“Score doesn’t reflect it, but I think we’re getting better as a team,” Vojta said. “This is going to be a two-year process. These guys are young. I got one senior, and he doesn’t start.”

Three Lakes 2, Rhinelander 0

The Hodags had a last-minute add to their non-conference schedule last Tuesday, hosting Three Lakes in a non-conference match. The Bluejays controlled play but, thanks to a 20-save night by Ehrhardt, only walked away with a 2-0 result.

“Caden Ehrhardt was absolutely unbelievable,” Vojta said. “I can’t say enough about him. (He’s) truly playing at (a) first-team all-conference level right now. He had 20-plus saves — point-blank saves — saves, quite honestly, I’ve seen some professional keepers not be able to make. One in particular, I mean, he went from one side of the goal to the other on a complete stretch out dive got fingertips on it. It could’ve been usually 5-0, 6-0 nothing. I mean, he really saved our butt.”

Vojta said he wanted to add the game to give the Hodags some more 11-on-11 experience, something they can’t do at practice due to limited numbers.

“We haven't had any tune-up matches and playing 11-on-7 at practice just doesn’t fly,” he said. 

Official stats were not provided by the team afterward, however Vojta said the play was one-sided in the Bluejays’ favor. Aside from Ehrhardt, Vojta commended the hustle of midfielder Charlie Johnson in the match and said he saw improvements from his side in the second half. 

“I know not to be a dead horse, but they’re young team,” he said. “We got a lot of work to do, but we saw drastic improvements again from the first half of the second half.”

Rhinelander (0-3, 0-1 GNC) was back in action Saturday and Monday with a pair of home games against Wausau East and Mosinee, both of which concluded after press time for today’s edition. See RiverNewsOnline.com for recaps of those matches and read a full report in Friday’s River News.

Next up, the Hodags travel to face Medford in GNC play on Thursday.

River News sports editor Jeremy Mayo contributed to this report.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].