Wiitala kicks way onto first team; Grunwald gets mention

ALL-GNC GIRLS SOCCER

Two of Medford’s senior leaders finished their soccer careers with honors resulting from the voting for the 2021 All-Great Northern Conference girls teams.

As the leading goal scorer in conference play this spring, Jasmine Wiitala was a fairly obvious choice to be one of the 11 first-team players chosen recently by the league’s coaches.

Ellee Grunwald didn’t have the stats Wiitala did, but her hustle, speed and experienced leadership put her among the 15 players to earn honorable mention.

After that, no Raiders were able to break the stronghold that GNC and WIAA Division 3 sectional champion Ashland as well as GNC runner-up and sectional semifinalist Lakeland had on this year’s teams. The Oredockers, who finished a 19-2 season with a 2-1 loss to Plymouth in a WIAA state semifinal game Friday, claimed three first-team spots, three more second-team spots and three honorable mentions. Lakeland, who lost just three times this year –– all to Ashland –– earned two first-team spots, three second-team spots and two honorable mention and the T-Birds’ Stephanie Hartzheim was named the 2021 Coach of the Year.

Third-place Rhinelander also hauled in several awards with two first-teamers, three second-teamers and two honorable mentionees.

At 2-5-1 in conference play and 3-10-2 overall under first-year head coach Tanya Tessmann, the Raiders finished sixth in the seven-team conference.

Wiitala scored 15 goals in conference play to lead the league, even though the Raiders played one fewer game than the top four teams. She added an assist for 31 total points, good for fourth in overall scoring behind Haillee Wilson, the GNC’s Offensive Player of the Year from Ashland, who scored 37 points, and firstteamers Alex Pieterek of Ashland (36) and Sophia Myshchyshyn of Lakeland (35).

Wiitala started the season with a bang, scoring a school-record six goals in a 10-0 win at Antigo on May 4 and she had four goals in a 9-0 win in the rematch at Medford on May 27. Wiitala scored both of Medford’s goals in a 5-2 loss to Rhinelander on May 25 and twice more in a 4-3 loss at Mosinee on June 3. She had the team’s score in a tough 2-1 loss at Northland Pines on May 20.

The assist came on a corner kick that fellow senior Olivia Felix put away for a goal in a 2-2 tie with Mosinee at Raider Field on May 18.

Wiitala added three more goals in non-conference play, two of which were scored in a 2-1 win over Hayward at Lakeland on May 8. She put Medford ahead 1-0 in a May 10 non-conference game with Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia.

Grunwald led a solid midfield crew for the Raiders that featured Felix, who scored three goals in league play, and junior Lydia Pernsteiner, who scored five. Grunwald, whose speed and passing ability set up several scoring chances during the season, had a goal and two assists in league play and added a goal and an assist in non-conference play.

The senior scored in the 9-0 win over Antigo and had a key assist off a corner kick in the tie with Mosinee. She scored Medford’s lone goal in a 5-1 loss to Marquette, Mich. at Lakeland on May 8 and had the assist on Gabby Brunner’s goal in a 1-1 tie with Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia in a WIAA Division 3 semifinal that the Falcons won in a penalty-kick shootout. That game took two days to play June 10-11 due to lightning.

Wiitala and Grunwald both earned All-GNC honorable mention as freshmen in 2018 and were key players on Medford’s WIAA Division 3 sectional runnerup team in 2019.

The GNC had another strong showing in the WIAA post-season. Not only did Ashland and Lakeland win regional championship plaques in Division 3, Northland Pines won a Division 4 regional title and lost in a penalty-kick shootout to Regis-McDonell in a sectional semifinal. Third-seeded Rhinelander knocked out second-seeded Marshfield in a penalty-kick shootout to win its Division 2 regional championship before losing 3-0 to then-undefeated Sauk Prairie in a sectional semifinal.