Three goals not quite enough; tourney starts in Amherst
MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER
For the second time this season, the Medford girls soccer team had a close game with Mosinee on Thursday, and for the second time the result wasn’t quite what they hoped for.
After a May 18 tie followed by a penalty- kick shootout won by the Indians, Mosinee took the rematch 4-3 Thursday, building a two-goal lead in the first half and then hanging on from there to cap the regular season for both teams.
Mosinee finished 3-2-3 in Great Northern Conference play and 3-3-5 overall. After falling a goal short of sending the Indians to yet another overtime, the Raiders finished 2-5-1 in the GNC and 3-10-1 overall.
The Raiders head into WIAA Division 3 tournament play as the sixth seed in their sectional half-bracket and will travel to third-seeded Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia tonight, Thursday, for a 7 p.m. regional semifinal.
“We were anticipating a close game,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said of the Mosinee loss. “Offensively we’d like to see a little more movement to allow us to make more runs. We’re looking for our defenders to push up a little more.”
Mosinee made things happen early with two quick goals. The first came in the fourth minute and the second came in the 15th.
“Both times they were able to get through a hole in our defense,” Tessmann said.
The Raiders cut the deficit in half at 24:28 with a goal from leading scorer Jasmine Wiitala. Just over a minute and a half later, the Raiders executed a play that got Alexis Szydel free behind the Mosinee defense. Her last touch before an intended shot wound up in a collision with the goalie.
The Indians took a 3-1 lead, but Medford countered again, making it a 3-2 game at 34:25 when Wiitala was able to lob a shot over the new goal keeper’s head.
Mosinee extended its lead to 4-2 early in the second half at 53:05. Goalie Sophia Brunner made a nice effort, but the ball still snuck inside the post on the left side.
The Raiders answered with Lydia Pernsteiner’s fifth goal of the season at 80:13. She got the shot just as she collided with a defender.
Medford had one more good scoring opportunity with four minutes left. Wiitala put a good corner kick in front of the goal, but the Raiders weren’t able to quite get a clean shot off.
Brunner had 17 saves for the Raiders. Tessmann said wing Gabby Brunner also played well, hanging tough in a physical contest.
Tonight’s game against the Falcons will be a rematch of a May 10 game in Medford won by Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia on a late goal by Alexa Shulfer. The Raiders were down three starters by the end of that game.
Tonight’s winner will face either seventh- seeded Waupaca or second-seeded Lakeland in the regional final on Saturday. Tessmann said some tweaks that were tried in the Mosinee game appeared to work well and she hopes a solid few days of practice will allow the Raiders to get acclimated to the heat wave that has hit this week.
“We feel like we have a good chance,” Tessmann said.
