Amid ice, Hodag soccer opens with win

Mother Nature was not very cooperative with the Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team late last week, but the Hodags still managed to play one of their three scheduled games to open the season.

Ella Miljevich scored off a Vivian Lamers corner kick in the 23rd minute and the Hodags defeated Wrightstown 1-0 Friday, April 3 as part of an invite at Capital Credit Union Park in Green Bay. 

Originally, the Hodags were scheduled to play twice in Green Bay on Friday, but bowed out of a game later in the evening against Wrightstown in order to get back to town ahead of the second of two storm systems that triggered ice storm warnings for the area late in the week. 

The first, which occurred last Thursday, wiped out the Hodags’ scheduled home opener against Ashland. 

“With this weather not cooperating and having games canceled, it was great that we were able to get down here and play against some pretty good competition and get to see the girls out on a really interesting field that we got to play at today,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “It was a lot of fun. It was good to see them back out there playing.”

The Hodags controlled the game, outshooting Wrightstown 20-2, but it took a set piece to create the deciding goal as Miljevich, third on the team in scoring last year, knocked in a corner kick from Lamers, the team’s leading scorer in 2025. 

“It was pretty good. Viv put a really nice ball in there on the corner, and Ella was able to get her foot on it to finish it. It was a really well-placed ball and a really nice finish,” Bates said of the connection between the two juniors. “The girls as a whole as a team, played a really, really good game of soccer today with our passing and possession game and a lot of good runs we had and some really good solid opportunities that we had on top of it. Their goalie had some really nice saves.”

Junior keeper Rylee Mickevicius stopped the only shot that Wrightstown put on frame. She was mainly a spectator as the Hodag defense, led by returning all-conference honorees June Chiamulera, Hayley Schiek and Becca Brost, kept the pressure at bay.

“Defense played super strong. June and Becca and all them in the back, Hayley, they did a fantastic job today,” Bates said. “They did a lot of good facilitating from the back line up to our offensive line.”

Bates said it was a solid performance for his side against a Wrightstown team that won a regional title in Division 4 last season before bowing out in the sectional semifinal round of the WIAA tournament to eventual state champion Appleton Xavier.

“It’s a team that we’ve never played and, looking at what they did last season with that program, I believe they took away a regional championship last year in their area,” he said. “They play some really, really tough competition and, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of it. But our girls came out and they gave 110% the whole game and they did a great job today.”

Waterford and Wrightstown played after Rhinelander’s game. That score was unavailable as of press time, though Bates said Waterford — a D2 team that fell in the regional final in penalties to DeForest last June — would have been a stern test for his squad. 

“That definitely would have been, I think, a tougher matchup than what we did (against Wrightstown),” he said. “They look good. Waterford looked really good. They got some big hitters on the team. I’m not saying they would have walked us, but I think we would have had our hands full.”

Rhinelander’s slate of games this week is also in the hands of Mother Nature, with its fate undecided as of press time. The Hodags are scheduled to open GNC play against Merrill tonight at Mike Webster Stadium and then travel to Eagle River to face Northland Pines on Thursday. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].