Raiders stung by slow start in loss, get one at Marquette

MEDFORD-RIB LAKE GIRLS HOCKEY

Girls hockey coaches Jenna Wieting and Scott Brandner have long talked about the hex the Northern Edge co-op seems to have over the Medford Raiders. Monday’s performance in Rhinelander did nothing to change the Raiders’ luck.

The Edge hit the Raiders with a fivegoal, first-period haymaker and coasted from there to an 8-1 win to improve to 5-5 for the season with two of those wins coming against the Medford-Rib Lake co-op. The Raiders also lost to an Edge II team back during the Edge’s holiday tournament.

Once just a joint venture between Rhinelander and Antigo, the Edge now consists of girls from those two anchor schools plus Lakeland, Tomahawk, Wabeno, Three Lakes and Mercer. Medford hasn’t beaten the Edge since a 5-1 win on Feb. 6, 2012.

It didn’t take long to figure out Monday wasn’t going to be the Raiders’ night either. Isabella Boyer got the Edge on the board just 1:41 in and Evelyn Leveque followed at 3:07 with an assist from Madi Losch. Losch scored back-to-back goals at 5:11 and 7:33 to make it 4-0. Kristina Kunelius added another at 14:47 with assists from Boyer and Wyndi Saari to cap the Edge’s first-quarter barrage.

The Edge outshot the Raiders 19-7 in the period.

Boyer added a power-play goal 3:30 into the second period with assists from Emily Kassler and Losch before the Raiders broke the Edge’s shutout bid at the 7:39 mark on a goal by Emily Schafer that was assisted by Kyla Kennedy. The 5-11 Raiders have only been shut out once this season, 9-0 in the team’s opening game at Northland Pines.

The Edge got the running clock back in the third period with goals from Boyer at 2:23 and Losch at 6:46. Maria Gironella assisted on Boyer’s goal and Boyer assisted on the Losch goal.

Alicia Turunen picked up the win between the pipes for the Northern Edge with 22 saves on 23 shots. Alex Nicks stopped 14 first-period shots for Medford before giving way to Saige Duesing, who had 26 saves on 29 shots in the last two periods, including 17 in the second period alone.

The Raiders and Northern Edge are both scheduled to be at the Simek Recreation Center Saturday to play the Beaver Dam Co-op. Medford’s Parents’ Day game against the Golden Beavers has been pushed back to noon from its original start time of 10:30 a.m. The Edge will face Beaver Dam afterwards at approximately 2:45 p.m.

The Raiders and Edge will both attend Beaver Dam’s two-day tournament the following weekend.

1-1 at Marquette

The Raiders faced the 19U mBank team from Marquette, Mich. for the second straight Saturday and came away with another doubleheader split.

The Raiders took game one 4-1 behind Schafer’s hat trick and a solid defensive effort that kept the home team off the board for the last two-plus periods.

Medford held a slim 2-1 going into the third period, but Schafer finally gave the Raiders some breathing room by scoring her third goal of the game with 6:09 left off a Kiersten Crass assist. Schafer assisted on Kennedy’s goal 1:10 later that sealed the victory.

Schafer also scored twice in the first period. Kennedy and Crass assisted on the first one, which came 4:07 into the game. Alyssa Brandner assisted on the second, which came with 1:39 left in the period and broke a 1-1 tie that was created when Marquette’s Abigail Bergmann scored with assists from Sydney Lake and Lyndsey Lake.

Medford did not commit a penalty in the game and was unsuccessful on two second-period power plays.

Marquette scored four third-period goals to get game two 7-3. A 3-1 lead for the hosts went to 5-1 with goals from Heidi Meglathery and Kali Dennis 22 seconds apart. The Raiders made things interesting with two goals from Schafer 33 seconds apart to cut the deficit to 5-3 with 5:17 still to play. Crass assisted on the first goal and Kennedy assisted on the second.

But Marquette got goals from Ava Young with 3:48 left and Hailey Veiht with 48 seconds left to secure the split.

Kennedy gave Medford a brief 1-0 lead 3:15 into the game with assists from Crass and Delaney Hraby. That lead was wiped out 3:45 later when Sydney Lake tied it and then, 21 seconds after that, Meglathery put the hosts on top. Lake’s goal was the only score of the second period.