Hodag girls’ soccer beats Northland Pines

EAGLE RIVER —The Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team jumped out to an early lead and maintained the advantage over Northland Pines, defeating the Eagles 3-0 Tuesday at Northland Pines High School.

The Hodags look to use that momentum as they travel to Lakeland this coming Tuesday in a match that will likely decide the Great Northern Conference. The Thunderbirds handed them their sole GNC loss when the teams first collided at Mike Webster Stadium on April 16. 

    Rhinelander’s Gabby Wanta races to the ball in a conference game against Northland Pines on May 5 at Northland Pines High School. Wanta scored two goals and assisted on another in the Hodags’ 3-0 victory over the Eagles. (Blake Richard/River News)
  

Gabby Wanta scored the game’s first goal against the Eagles only four minutes in to contest. Her shot was deflected by Northland Pines goalkeeper Kaydence Brost, but spun down the line and eventually across it to give the Hodags an early lead. Her second goal came in the 59th minute when she won possession toward the inside and was able to punch it through to distance the Hodags even further at 3-0.

Wanta also assisted on the Hodags’ second goal by Ella Miljevich in the 16th minute. 

“The girls came out and played really well,” head coach Nathan Bates remarked. “In years past, we have not always performed the best on this field for whatever reason, and it was good to see this year that we came out, you know, and put a lot of momentum in the beginning of the game, and continued throughout the whole game, and put a lot of pressure, and then we put some goals in the back of the net.” 

Rhinelander almost went up 3-0 in the first half, when the continued pressure by the Hodags gave Miljevich a shot that hit off the crossbar and sailed out of play. She had another opportunity one-on-one in the second half, but Brost blocked Miljevich’s attempt at her second goal of the night. 

Now in the second time through the conference opponents, coach Bates said that continued pressure like the efforts tonight will be important for the success in the latter half of GNC play. 

“Biggest thing is we just have to, you know, stay focused,” he said. “A lot of times what happens is, we played everybody once already and sometimes the girls might let up, depending on who we played. So, biggest thing is keeping our heads together and trying to press every team as hard as we can.”

With Lakeland due up next on the schedule, Bates said preparation won’t be any different going into the game. 

“We’re going to go game by game, and we’re going to play them like we did last time,” he said. “We can’t focus on what happened last time. We just have to keep pushing forward, and, you know, last time we had pretty much for the most part, dominated that game.”

In the April 16 matchup between the squads, Rhinelander outshot Lakeland 21-4, but a penalty kick by Karsyn Dyre lifted the Thunderbirds to a one-goal victory and first place in the GNC. 

To maintain their own destiny to at least split the GNC title, the Hodags need to beat Lakeland on Tuesday to even the loss column at one a piece. 

Blake Richard may be reached via email at [email protected].