Experienced core group aims to lead Raiders to improved year

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER PREVIEW

Last spring, the Medford Raiders were happy to be back on the field after losing their entire 2020 soccer season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This spring, the season format returns to its normal pre-Covid state, which means a longer season, more games and, unfortunately, another stretch in March where the Raiders are waiting for spring weather to arrive.

If the snow doesn’t get too heavy this week, Medford will kick off the new season Friday on the Raider Field turf with a 7 p.m. non-conference contest against Regis-McDonell. It’s the first of six straight home games at the front end of the 2022 schedule. The first five are non-conference contests that will allow Tanya Tessmann and Denice Poetzl, who return for their second seasons as the program’s head and assistant coaches, to look at players and combinations before the brunt of the Great Northern Conference schedule hits in mid-April.

“We’re excited and looking forward to the season,” Tessmann said Monday as the team began its first outdoor practice at Raider Field. The team was forced indoors for its first week of workouts. “It’s going to look a lot different than the last couple of years. The last normal season was 2019.

Then Covid ended 2020 and last year was a shortened season that was so compact so we were fitting a lot of games in a shorter amount of time, which was hard on the girls.”

Medford posted a 3-10-2 overall record in the shortened 2021 season, including a 2-5-1 GNC mark.

Both of the conference wins came against Antigo and the third win was against Hayward, who the Raiders will see again this year on May 23. The Raiders ended the season playing one of their best games, a 1-1 tie in the WIAA Division 3 post-season with host Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia that took two days to play due to thunderstorms and was won by the Falcons in a penalty-kick shootout.

Medford lost the GNC’s leading scorer, Jasmine Wiitala, and three others to graduation and another starter, Sophia Yohnk, was lost with a family move.

But the Raiders do return nine letter winners and a couple of additional players who got some varsity time last spring. So, the coaches do view experience as a strength.

“We have a really strong core returning,” Tessmann said of this year’s roster. “I think we have 11 players that have had varsity experience and it’s a good core group that has been playing together for quite a few years. I believe we have about 35 girls total. We have a lot returning in that group, but we have a lot of new players, not just freshmen, but at all levels, especially in the junior class. There are a lot of new players that have never played soccer, and I think we have four foreign exchange students.”

Of the 16 players penciled in to start the season with the varsity, eight are seniors who fill roles at all levels of Medford’s formation.

Offensively, Lydia Pernsteiner centers the front line, while Gabby Brunner holds down the left wing spot and Kayla Szydel will get the first crack at filling the vacant right wing position.

Senior Maddie Williams and sophomore Alexis Szydel are also candidates to get playing time in front line positions. Szydel got some varsity time late last year.

“Our offensive line is going to be led by Lydia Pernsteiner, who is one of our captains,” Tessmann said. “She has the best endurance out there and good footwork. We’re looking for her to lead the attack. Another captain is Gabby Brunner. She’ll be at left wing, which is a position she’s played forever. No one can feel more comfortable than her at that position.

“We’re going to be moving Kayla Szydel to right wing,” Tessmann added. “She’s relentless. She doesn’t give up. I’m hoping she’ll do well out there. She’ll be backed up by Maddie Williams. This will be her first year playing varsity. She’s relatively new to soccer but she has a good foot and we’re excited to see what she can do.”

While Wiitala’s 1.3 goals per game won’t be easy to replace, Tessmann said a team effort can get it done. “Overall this team, they’ve played together, the core of them,” she said. “From what I see they’re communicating really well. They want to see each other excel. We’ll be looking for passes and helping each other out. I think we’ll be able to get some goals.”

Senior co-captain Caitlin Doyle again leads the back line of defense in front of sophomore goalie Sophia Brunner. Doyle will again be joined by senior Kelsey Jascor, who had a solid first season with the team last year, while senior Maddie Eckert and freshmen Megan Schaefer and Talyn Peterson will vie for time as well.

“Cait was out with an injury for a lot of last season. If we can keep her on the field it’s going to make a huge difference on how the game is played,” Tessmann said. She’ll be joined by Kelsey Jascor, another senior who played varsity experience last year and defense is just in her blood.”

The all-important midfield will have some different faces to start the year. Sophomore Sierra Tessmann steps into a more prominent role, while sophomore Nikki Poetzl moves up after playing more on the back line as a freshman. Senior Emma Eckert will get her shot as will exchange student Eszter Nagy.

“Sierra will be in the center,” Tessmann said. “She’s a good communicator and gets good shots so we’re looking at her to find the back of the net hopefully this season. Nikki Poetzl is a more of a defensive mid, but she has a strong foot too and she’s one who could actually score from further out. It’s hard to get past her if you’re on the opposing team. It’s Emma’s second year playing soccer but she moved up to varsity last year for a reason. She’s got a good sense of how the game works.”

Sophia Brunner stepped into the goalie position and held her own with a save percentage over 75%, two shutout wins over Antigo and one-goal games against Hayward and Shawano.

“We’re looking at developing her skills more,” Tessmann said. “She did great last year stepping in as a freshman. Looking forward to seeing her play this year and the following years.”

The Great Northern Conference shrinks to six teams this year with Ashland’s move to the Heart O’ North. The Oredockers had been one of the league’s dominant teams in recent years and went to state in 2021 and 2019. The benefi t of their departure is the conference is able to go back to full double roundrobin, home-and-away regular season schedule. Medford will still play Ashland in an April 19 non-conference game.

Tessmann guessed Lakeland could be the new team to beat as the T-Birds could bring back seven players who earned All-GNC awards in 2021. They were 7-2 in league play and 10-3-2 overall last spring. “That’s going to have a different feel I think, in a good way,” Tessmann said. “We play a team once and, if we win, we know what we need to keep doing and if we lose, we know what we have to improve and get another chance at them. So that’s a different feel.”

The non-conference slate has some new names like Barron, who will be here Tuesday, New Richmond, Waupaca and Wausau West. Medford played Rice Lake and Hayward last year and Regis-McDonell in 2019. Amherst/Iola has been a common non-conference foe over the year.