Rhinelander uses wind to take big lead, blows by Medford 9-1

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

Winds of 30-40 mph, wind chills in the teens and persistent snowfall Thursday night didn’t stop the Raiders and Rhinelander Hodags from kicking off Great Northern Conference play girls soccer play at Raider Field.

While it was Rhinelander’s first game of the spring outside the comforts of its Hodag Dome, the Hodags made themselves at home in the brutal conditions, cruising to a 9-1 win.

While the conditions looked bad, Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said the players said they stayed warmer and were better prepared for it than they were in a wind-driven rain in a 2-0 loss to Barron-Cumberland on April 5.

But, with the westerly gusts at their backs, the Hodags scored six first-half goals to quickly put the game out of reach. Medford did use the wind to get one goal back in the second half and more offensive pushes in the last 40 minutes, but a three-goal spree in a late nineminute span assured the Hodags would have a happy ride home as they thawed out on their bus.

Medford’s first goal of the season came at the 56:17 mark. The sequence started with Kayla Szydel getting fouled in the far right corner as she chased down a ball sent by Sierra Tessmann. Tessmann took the direct kick and shot the ball in the front of the net, where it was deflected by the Hodags but then went right to the foot of sophomore Madison Clarkson, who buried it into the back of the net to make it a 6-1 game at the time.

Ava Lamers scored four goals for the Hodags, three in the first half, while Sophie Miljevich and McKenna Brown added two apiece to lead Rhinelander, who improved to 3-2 overall.

“We lost the coin toss,” coach Tessmann said. “That was disappointing because we knew right away with Rhinelander choosing to go with the wind that it was going to be a tough battle in the first half.”

Lamers got the scoring started at the 10:30 mark. It started with a crossing shot by McKenna Brown that hit the post, popped out and then nearly was blown over the goal line by the wind before goalie Sophia Brunner pounced on it. The Hodags, though, got to the ensuing goal kick and Lamers weaved through traffic and fired a perfect shot to the lower left corner.

At 16:23, Miljevich broke free from a defender and got a breakaway chance that she shot right under the diving Brunner. Medford’s best scoring chance of the half came nearly four minutes later when Tessmann pushed a pass up the middle of the field to Lydia Pernsteiner, who got bumped off the ball just as she was about to fire a shot on goal.

After that, the half belonged to the Hodags. At 22:52, Lamers shot a laser from about 25 yards that got inside the left post after the Raiders couldn’t quite clear a corner kick. The wind played a role in the fourth goal as a lob pass from Emma Chiamulera carried over Medford’s last line of defense and gave Brown a breakaway that she converted at 24:55.

“Sophia made the right decision,” Tessmann said. “She came way out on the ball, but that was the right play because if their player gets too close then it’s a lot easier for them to score the goal. Sophia made the right decision, but their girl still found the back of the net.”

Lamers centered a pass off the end line to Miljevich for a goal at 32:23 and Lamers buried a 21-yard shot after intercepting a goal kick 90 seconds later.

Medford was able to use the wind to their advantage to some extent in the second half, getting shots from Pernsteiner, Gabby Brunner and Nikki Poetzl along with Clarkson’s goal.

The Raiders’ momentum died at 65:25 when a shot by Lamers that would’ve sailed too high on most days, was knocked down perfectly by the wind and fell over Brunner’s hands and under the crossbar. Brown curled in a shot from the right side that snuck inside the right post at 71:57 and the Raiders’ defense broke down on the final goal at 74:13 when Hailey Gabor crossed a pass to a wide-open Morgan Van Zile on the left post.

Brunner finished with 11 saves, nine of which came in the first half. The Raiders were without five players due to spring break. Medford’s JV team lost 7-0.

The Raiders’ game at Ashland scheduled for Tuesday was pushed back a day to Wednesday, after this week’s deadline for The Star News.

Medford is at Mosinee today, Thursday, for a Great Northern Conference matchup with the Indians that kicks off at 5 p.m. Medford is at Lakeland Monday for a 7 p.m. varsity contest and hosts Antigo on April 28, also at 7 p.m.