Hodag soccer dealt double whammy at Lakeland

MINOCQUA — The Lakeland T-Birds continue to have Rhinelander High School girls’ soccer team’s number. 

The Hodags came up short in a must-win game Tuesday at IncredibleBank Field, surrendering a goal in each half as they fell to the T-Birds 2-0.

The loss effectively ended the Hodags’ Great Northern Conference title chances, dropping Rhinelander (9-4-0, 7-2-0-0 Great Northern) six points back with three games to play. Unlike the first meeting on April 16, which the Hodags dominated but lost 1-0 after a Karsyn Dyre second-half penalty kick, Lakeland (12-0-0, 9-0-0-0 Great Northern) was Rhinelander’s equal much of the night Tuesday.

“Lakeland wanted it more than we did tonight and it showed on the field. I mean, it’s plain and simple,” Hodag coach Nathan Bates said. “We came out pretty good in the beginning, and it was just after that, I don’t know. I got no words for it. It just was not our best performance as a team. Lakeland just wanted the game more than we did tonight. It was evident on the field.”

    Rhinelander’s Vivian Lamers lays on the turf during the first half of a GNC girls’ soccer game in Minocqua Tuesday, May 12. Lamers, the reigning GNC co-offensive player of the year, left the game with an apparent right knee injury and did not return to the contest. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Adding injury to insult, reigning GNC co-offensive player of the year Vivian Lamers left the game late in the first half with what appeared to be a right knee injury. 

She crumpled to the turf in the 31st minute after she and Lakeland’s Bella Peterson made simultaneous contact with the ball with their feet. The extent of Lamers’ injury was not immediately known, however the junior did not return to the contest. 

Rhinelander struggled to find its offensive footing much of the second half with Lamers on the sideline. The T-Birds outshot Rhinelander much of the second, before a late Hodag flurry evened the shot count at seven apiece.

“Ella (Miljevich) is very fluent on the field. She can play any position, really. So we just dropped her back into there,” Bates said of the team’s efforts to fill Lamers’ void in the center of the midfield. “Jordan (Manske)’s also real good and distributing the ball and plays the position very well. So we adjusted, but obviously it’s a big hit, losing Viv in the middle of a game like this.”

The Hodags already faced a 1-0 hole by the time Lamers went down. Dyre, Lakeland’s hero in the first meeting, burned the Hodags again in the 28th minute Tuesday. She received a chip pass from Lexi Gindorff in the box, sprinted past defender Becca Brost and fired from the right edge of the six-yard box past keeper Rylee Mickevicius to the opposite corner of the goal.

“Becca obviously didn’t notice that she had a girl right on her tail end, coming into it, and she was running with the ball, and the girl was able to get a foot and poke it through,” Bates said.

Lakeland put a final nail in the coffin in the 60th minute after freshman Malin Awker was fouled just outside the 18, setting up a free kick. Lakeland served the ball into the box, and the Hodags were unable to clear it. The ball eventually bounded to Awker for a close-range finish that made it 2-nil.

“It was a defensive mistake, and they just were not able to get their foot on to get it cleared out of there,” Bates said.

The Hodags had a couple of early chances in the match. Kiley Pooch was denied by Lakeland keeper Ava Evenhouse in the fourth minute and Miljevich’s direct free kick in the 12th minute met the same fate. 

Manske rainbowed a shot in the 68th minute that just pushed wide left of the goal. Miljevich missed high on a free kick chance in the 71st minute and Manske launched a redirect high off a corner kick in the 72nd. 

In all, the Hodags held a 17-13 edge in shots, and an 11-9 edge in shots on goal. Mickevicius made seven saves in defeat. 

With the Hodags’ conference fate all but sealed, attention will turn to trying to rebound for the last three games of the regular season. The Hodags are off until Tuesday, May 19 when the travel to Antigo.

“It is what it is. I mean, we just gotta move forward from it,” Bates said. “There’s a good chance we’ll be seeing them again in the playoffs and, the girls just got to bring their best at every game and try to continue to fight through the season and make a run in playoffs. 

“The girls have to do it themselves. I mean, the coaching staff, all we can do is keep encouraging them and trying to keep them pumped up. At the end of the day, it’s on them. If they want to stay mentally in the game. It’s going to be on them. They fight really hard. They’re a good group, and they got good team camaraderie going on. So I think they’ll be fine.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].