Opening stretch wears down Raiders, who start soccer season 2-4

Six games in eight days to start the season took a toll on the Medford Raiders, who will look to regroup late this week after a 9-0 Great Northern Conference loss at Lakeland Tuesday night.

The Thunderbirds hit Medford with two big scoring blitzes and consistently attacked Medford’s inexperienced defense while improving to 1-1 in the GNC and 3-1-1 overall.

Medford, meanwhile slipped to 2-4 overall and 1-2 league play, while playing short-handed due to some minor injuries accumulated during the opening week.

After a non-conference game tonight, Thursday, at Shawano, the Raiders will get a welcome few days to catch their breath before another busy stretch next week with four games between Monday and Saturday.

“They came out firing,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said of Lakeland. “They made some amazing shots, hitting the upper back corner. They scored three times in the first 13 minutes. Then we held them for the first half. They didn’t score again until 57 minutes, but then they scored four goals in a 13-minute span.”

Olivia Melka did the early damage for Lakeland, scoring at 7:05 and 10:10 off attacks from the left side of the team’s offensive attack. Sophia Myshchyshyn scored the third goal at 12:50. She started the second-half flurry at 57:21 and wound up with a hat trick after scoring the final goal in the 87th minute off a deflection.

Maddie McMullen scored unassisted at 58:39, Naomi Hamerla scored off a Leah Wolfe assist in the 62nd minute to make it 6-0, Hamerla assisted Wolfe at 64:11 and Hamerla scored off a Kristyn Dallman assist at 69:21.

Tessmann said Medford goal keeper Sophia Brunner had more than 30 saves.

“It was crazy,” Tessmann said. “She never showed she was tired or worn down from it. She was still smiling at the half.”

Tessmann credited Kelsey Jascor, a first-year junior, Autumn Krause and Nikki Poetzl with strong efforts defensively. Krause came into the game banged up and made it most of the way through. Poetzl made a couple of nongoalie saves in the box.

“We started to see more of what we are hoping for offensively,” Tessmann said. “We’re utilizing our players more and getting into the right positions. It was more of what we saw in the first game when we had success. Sierra Tessmann and Ellee Grunwald got some shots on goal, so that was exciting to see.”

Lakeland won the JV game 4-1 with Alexis Szydel scoring Medford’s goal.

After tonight’s 6:30 p.m. game in Shawano, Medford heads to Eau Claire North Monday for the program’s firstever meeting with the Huskies at 5 p.m. Mosinee is at Raider Field Tuesday for a 7 p.m. GNC contest, then it’s off to Northland Pines on May 20 for a 5 p.m. kickoff. A May 22 game at Rice Lake has also been added.

Falcons 2, Raiders 1

After taking a 1-0 lead just 90 seconds in, the Raiders tried to hold on for dear life Monday, but down three starters they eventually caved as Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia tied the game early in the second half and then won it on Alexa Shulfer’s goal with 6:14 left at Raider Field.

A weekend injury to the team’s most experienced defender, Caitlin Doyle, and then a mid-game injury to Krause, who had slipped back to help fill that spot, left the Raiders thin on the back end of their formation. The Falcons controlled the ball for the majority of the game and finally took advantage on two late opportunities.

“We were down a few players tonight,” Tessmann said after the loss. “We started the game minus a couple of our starters and then had another injury, so we were down to one sub. Emma and Maddie Eckert played up and they stepped up. I think the girls held together strong and never gave up.”

Jasmine Wiitala quickly put Medford on top with her ninth goal of the year with a successful push up the left sideline. Once she got her opportunity to shoot, she didn’t miss it.

After that, the Raiders didn’t have many chances until the final moments when heavy pressure on the Falcon net resulted in two corner kicks in the 89th minute. But Amherst/Iola’s defense made the stops to secure their win.

“We had some good runs in the end, got some corner kicks,” Tessmann said. “We saw some good passing in the second half.”

Brunner had 17 saves in goal and her teammates came up with a couple key saves as well. Kelsey Jascor blocked an open shot from the middle late in the first half. Brunner made two big saves early in the second half, but in the 53rd minute, Alyssa Tap lobbed a perfect shot from nearly 30 yards out that bent its way just under the crossbar for the tying score.

Falcon Lia Peterson sent a crossing shot from the right side that just missed the opposite post at the 80-minute mark. At 83:46, Saige Peterson’s centering pass found Shulfer’s foot and she put it home to break the tie.

“Kayla Szydel has played consistently,” Tessmann said. “She’s not giving up. She’s gotten some good touches on the ball. Ellee Grunwald is another one that doesn’t give up. She’s always where the action is.”

1-1 at Lakeland Quad

The Raiders bounced back from a 5-1 loss to Marquette, Mich. in the opening round of Saturday’s Lakeland Quad by beating Hayward 2-1 in the afternoon round.

Lakeland went 1-0-1 on the day, beating Hayward 2-0 and tying Marquette 2-2. The T-Birds won the shootout against the Redmen.

Wiitala scored both of Medford’s goals in the win. She got the first one in the 24th minute, but Hayward answered two minutes later. Thirteen minutes into the second 40-minute half, Wiitala scored the tiebreaker and the defense held on from there. The Raiders made some adjustments after losing Doyle about 20 minutes in.

“You could tell for both teams it was their second game of the day,” Tessmann said. “The whole game was a little slower than the first game for both of them. I’m proud of our girls, they still played and never gave up. Autumn did a great job stepping in unexpectedly back for Caitlin on defense. Besides her two goals, Jasmine had a lot of other shots on goal. Nikki Poetzl had an opportunity to score along with Lydia Pernsteiner having a shot on goal. Emma Eckert played up in that game.”

Tessmann said the coaches experimented with some different looks in game one, and Marquette took advantage while building a 4-1 halftime lead. Grunwald notched her first goal of the season, but Marquette got two quick goals in the first 17 minutes and never trailed. The Redmen also scored on a penalty kick late in the half.

“We started off that game by switching some players around in a different lineup,” Tessmann said. “After halftime we switched back. We returned to our original lineup that we had the first two games and you could tell the girls felt more comfortable.

“Marquette started their season in early April so they’ve been playing for a few weeks,” she added. “They said they already had nine games in. It was only our third, so we’re still working on finding our groove. Sophia was amazing and had 22 saves. Caitlin and Kelsey each added one to the save column. Ellee, Autumn and Nikki also had shots on goal.”

Medford’s JV team beat Hayward 3-0 behind two goals from Alexis Szydel and one from Maddie Williams. Marquette beat the Raiders 2-0.

Ashland 6, Medford 0

After not getting challenged in the team’s opening win at Antigo on May 4, Medford’s young defense met what might be their toughest GNC offense Thursday and learned some lessons in a 6-0 loss to Ashland at Raider Field.

The Raiders had one good scoring chance midway through the first half, but Wiitala’s last dribble on a breakaway chance went a little too far and was gobbled up by Ashland goal keeper Madalyn Brilla. Wiitala’s penalty kick from 20 yards away from the right side of offense late in the first half sailed high.

Outside of that, the Oredockers kept the ball on Medford’s end of the field for the part and broke open what was a 2-0 game at halftime with outstanding passing that led to unstoppable shots.

Ashland returns five players who earned some level of All-GNC distinction two years ago, and most of them factored into the scoring.

2019 GNC Offensive Player of the Year Claire Custer opened the scoring with an assist from 2019 honorable mentionee Alex Pieterek. Brilla’s save on Wiitala kept it 1-0 until the 37:29 mark of the first half when the Oredockers were able to pressure the net and get two shots off before Lily Nye banged in the third one.

“I felt at halftime that we were in the game,” Tessmann said. “I felt our offense had the speed when they got the ball. We just had a hard time getting it up there. This really was our defense’s first game because they didn’t get much action (in game one). We have three freshmen so it’s a young defensive line.”

In the opening moments of the second half, the Oredockers centered the ball to 2019 All-GNC second-teamer Haillee Wilson for their third goal. At 54:39, Pieterek attacked from the right side and sent a shot toward the opposite post where 2019 honorable mentionee Abbi Moreland punched it in for a 4-0 lead.

Ashland dropped the ball back to Hannah Bochler for a center shot at 64:11 and Wilson got back a defender with a beautiful crossover dribble and fired off a 25yard shot that found its target at the 67:00 mark. Bochler hit the crossbar not long after that.

While Ashland got six goals, Brunner also made some outstanding saves and finished with 16 on the night.

“We had five non-goalie saves, so the defense was in there,” Tessmann said. “They were saving goals too. Some of those goals were just unstoppable. Sophia did a good job of talking, coming out and going after it.

“(The Oredockers) have a phenomenal program,” she added. “Their passing is excellent. They were first to the ball. We’re still working on our positions. It was definitely more of a defensive game. We tried to make a few changes. It just didn’t carry over.”

Medford’s Ellee Grunwald and Alyssa Tap of Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia battle for possession of the ball late in the first half of Monday’s non-conference game.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS