Mosinee rallies for tie; Raiders shut out by North and Shawano

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

The Medford Raiders met their goal of playing with early energy and creating some offense on Senior Night Tuesday at Raider Field.

Unfortunately, that got canceled out by late energy and offense from the Mosinee Indians.

The end result was a 2-2 tie between the Great Northern Conference rivals. New this year in the GNC, ties are followed by five-round shootouts with winners getting two team points in the standings and losers getting one. Mosinee won the shootout 3-0 in three rounds to get the extra point.

Despite what head coach Tanya Tessmann said was an improved effort, the Raiders’ winless streak reached five as they now sit at 1-2-1 in the GNC and 2-6-1 overall. Mosinee (1-2-2, 1-3-4) played to a tie for the fourth time in eight games.

“The girls came out really good, really strong,” Tessmann said. “It was exactly what we wanted to see, that urgency. That was probably our best game with being first to the ball all season. We did have one of our starters back (Jasmine Wiitala). People still changed positions some and I was proud of them because they did switch positions a lot and they fell right into the positions they went in for. They worked together. We saw a lot more talking. They were just fired up for the game.”

The early juice produced pressure in Mosinee’s zone in the opening moments and a corner kick opportunity. Sierra Tessmann’s kick was first contacted by Ellee Grunwald, who redirected it to senior Olivia Felix for the game’s first goal.

At 39:14, another corner kick from the left of the Mosinee net was perfectly placed by Wiitala and Felix was right there to knock it in to make it 2-0. Wiitala nearly pushed the lead to three at 41:20, but Mosinee goal keeper Jessica Brown made the play on a high shot before it snuck under the crossbar.

Medford goalie Sophia Brunner and her teammates had to scramble to prevent Mosinee from scoring on an early corner kick in the second half, but they couldn’t stop a Riley Sondelski penalty kick at 54:02 following a handball in the box that made it 2-1.

Wiitala had a 35-yard direct kick hit the crossbar at 71:55 and Brown deflected a Wiitala shot off a Grunwald pass at 73:40.

A foul at 82:06 gave Mosinee a direct kick from about 25 yards out at a tough angle from Brunner’s left, but Madalyn Samz made a perfect crossing kick that got inside the opposite post and tied the game. The shot came after Brunner made a handful of nice saves on balls that were taking quick bounces off the wet turf.

“That last goal was unstoppable,” Tessmann said.

McKenna Kaczor, Kaitlyn Selle and Samz all connected for Mosinee in the shootout with low shots to the left. Brown stopped a high shot from Autumn Krause, a shot by Grunwald aimed at the upper right corner and a low shot to the right from Gabby Brunner.

“This wasn’t Mosinee’s first shootout, but it was ours so we got that under our belts,” Tessmann said. “I’m glad they actually had the chance to experience that and get those nerves out. If we’re ever in that position again we have some experience there now. I think it will settle some nerves.”

Wiitala, Felix, Grunwald and Emma Wegerer were the four seniors honored before the game.

“Emma Wegerer played up from JV,” Tessmann said. “It was fun to give her time and she did amazing out there. She was fast, she went to the ball.”

Medford is at Northland Pines today, Thursday and hosts Rhinelander at 7 p.m. on Tuesday to close the round-robin portion of the GNC schedule. In between, the Raiders are scheduled to play a 10 a.m. non-conference game at Rice Lake on Saturday.

The tournament portion of the GNC schedule starts May 27.

North 8, Medford 0

The Raiders traveled west Monday to test themselves against a Division 1 opponent and came out on the short end of an 8-0 shutout at Eau Claire North.

The Huskies got goals from six different players, including two apiece from Tatia Tillery and Abbey Liddell, and built a commanding 5-0 lead while picking up their first win of the year. North improved to 1-4-2 with the win.

The Huskies scored three goals in the first 12 minutes. Tillery scored off a Faith Benzschawel assist in the third minute, Liddell scored off an Emily Hatleti assist in the eighth minute and Tillery used a Marissa Mannhardt assist in the 12th minute.

Tillery and Ava Berg added goals before halftime. The Raiders held the Huskies scoreless for a nearly 40-minute span. North finished with a three-goal flurry in 13 minutes with scores from Liddell, Hannah Ingram and Claire Gannon.

Tessmann said the Raiders lacked energy early, and it showed. They did play better in the second half.

“Sophia Brunner had a good game with 25 saves,” Tessmann said. “Eau Claire had over 30 shots. We were able to get a couple of shots on goal. Gabby Brunner had one and Kelsey Jascor had her first shot on goal of the season. We only had two subs available, so were changing positions a lot in the 79-degree heat. Kelsey was able to play up from her normal defensive position and took advantage by taking a shot. Autumn Krause played well, filling in again on the defensive end. She had a couple of saves.

“I thought Olivia Felix had a good game,” Tessmann added. “She made some nice runs going after the ball and had some energy when a lot of others didn’t.”

Medford fell 3-0 in the JV game.

Shawano 1, Medford 0

While their season-opening stretch of seven games in 10 days didn’t end the way they wanted, a 1-0 non-conference loss at Shawano Thursday gave the Raiders confi dence they were back on the right track heading into a three-day weekend break.

The Hawks scored the game’s only goal two minutes into the second half when, according to Tessmann, the Raiders left too much space in the middle of the field and Shawano took advantage.

Otherwise, she said, the Raiders did a lot of good things.

“It was such a close game,” she said. “We had so many shots. Even though we were without a couple of starters, I felt we outpossessed Shawano for the majority of the game, especially in the second half. So our defense got a little bit of a break. Sophia did have 16 saves. But we had nine different players take shots. We took about 30 shots and a lot of those were on goal. Some were just a couple inches away. Lydia Pernsteiner and Ellee Grunwald led the way.”