ALL-GNC BOYS SOCCER - Meyer earns 2nd-team spots; 3 more mentioned in All-GNC vote

ALL-GNC BOYS SOCCER

The efforts of four Medford Raiders were recognized by the league’s coaches in the voting for the 2024 All-Great Northern Conference boys soccer teams.

The list of award winners was released by the conference on Monday.

Three of Medford’s honorees are firsttime award winners, including senior cocaptain Michael Meyer, who earned a spot on the All-GNC second team. Senior goal keeper Cale Schulz earned honorable mention for the second straight year. Honorable mention also went to junior defenders Nathan Schuld and Lucas Mahner.

The awards follow a tough season where the Raiders were 1-13-3 overall and 0-8-2 in conference play under secondyear head coach Adam Derr. They did finish the year playing their best soccer with four well-played outings that produced a 1-1 tie at Rhinelander, which the Hodags won in a shootout; a 3-2 loss to Mosinee where the Raiders led 2-0 a furious Indians’ rally in the last 11 minutes; a 4-1 WIAA Division 3 tournament win at Antigo and a 2-0 overtime loss at GNC champion at topseeded Lakeland last Thursday in a WIAA regional semifinal.

“I nominated four players and all four of them got an award,” Derr said Monday. “I thought that was a testament to these guys’ abilities and to how well they actually played. If we could have won a couple more games, I believe their awards would have been higher.”

Meyer, a three-year varsity player, was in many ways the heartbeat of the squad. As always, Meyer played the game with tremendous energy while trying to possess the ball and make things happen in the midfield area. Moved up top by Medford’s coaches late in the year, he responded with a hat trick in the playoff win at Antigo and wound up as Medford’s leading scorer with seven goals, four of which came in conference play. His eight points tied him for 11th in the conference rankings.

Meyer added a penalty kick in the tie at Rhinelander, scored unassisted against GNC runner-up Northland Pines on Oct. 3 and scored Medford’s lone goal in a 3-1 loss at Mosinee on Sept. 30.

Schulz had a second straight impressive season in goal for the Raiders. In GNC play, the senior recorded 103 saves in 10 games for an .811 save percentage, including some spectacular saves made at close range. He allowed 24 goals in conference games for a 2.4 goals against average that ranked fourth among GNC keepers.

Schulz, by far, faced the most shots of the goalies whose statistics are reported on the GNC’s statistics. He finished his career with 20 saves in the overtime loss to Lakeland last week.

Schuld, one of the team’s three captains along with Meyer and senior Dominic Fennell, was the leader of Medford’s defensive back line, holding down a middle position, while Mahner gave the Raiders solid defensive work and ball handling on the outside.

Schuld possessed one of the strongest legs and used that asset to score a long goal in the Oct. 10 home loss to Mosinee. His throw-in assisted Meyer’s goal in Mosinee.

Medford’s defensive unit led by Schuld and Mahner played well for much of the year. The Raiders allowed 2.3 goals per game overall and 2.4 goals per game in GNC play, which ranked fourth in the league. Unfortunately, the Raiders only scored five GNC goals and 12 overall.

The All-GNC first team is led by three unanimous choices from leaguechampion Lakeland and four representatives from runner-up Northland Pines. Both of those teams are still competing in their respective WIAA tournament brackets. Lakeland hosts Shawano in Division 3 sectional semifinal tonight, Thursday, and Northland Pines hosts Cumberland in Division 4.

Cody Vojta of Northland Pines, a co-Defensive Player of the Year as a junior, is this year’s co-Offensive Player of the Year along with Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella. Gironella led the GNC with 19 goals and added four assists for 42 points. Vojta’s move to offense paid off for the Eagles as he scored 15 goals and had five assists for 35 points.

Nick Boxrucker of Pines and Karter Massey of Rhinelander shared the Defensive Player of the Year award. Lakeland’s Ihor Myshchyshyn was named the GNC’s Coach of the Year for the second time in four years.

Gironella, Brent Olson and Marshall Holmquist, who scored both goals in last week’s playoff win over Medford, were Lakeland’s unanimous first-teamers. Vojta and Boxrucker were the unanimous picks from Pines, who also got Guilherme Ameriz and Anthony Gaetano on the first team. Rhinelander’s Barak Rappley repeated as the first-team goalie while joining Massey on the first team. Mosinee’s Greyson Gabrielski and Shawn Sowadski rounded out the squad.