All goes well except for finding back of the net in season-opening tie
A lot went well for the Medford Raiders, who got off 20 shots, controlled the ball and gave goal keeper Jake Dassow a pretty easy night as he only had to make three saves in Tuesday’s season opener at Baldwin-Woodville.
The only problem was none of Medford’s shots found the back of the net and the Raiders came home with a 0-0 draw for their efforts.
For head coach Nate Bilodeau, it was a hard game to explain. In his view, the Raiders were as on top of their game as they could be for a season opener. He was as surprised as anyone that they just didn’t score.
“We played really well,” he said. “We outpossessed them. I think the shot count was 20-3. We were by far the better team, but we just couldn’t score. You win games by putting the ball in the back of the net, there’s no question about it.”
A state qualifier in Division 3 in 2018 that fell on harder times in 2019 and 2020, we’d get the ball and within five seconds somebody would be on us. It felt like that. They were good at pressuring us, but we did the same. It was just a really highintensity game. “But If there was a possession clock, I would say we outpossessed them 75%,” he added. “We looked good. Our passes were good after we settled down in the first 20 minutes, per usual. Everything looked like it was firing on all cylinders. We were communicating, guys were getting back on defense. It looked great, but at the end of the day I’m just disappointed because we didn’t score and that’s how we win games.”
Going back to last year, it was Medford’s second scoreless tie in the program’s last three games. The sectional final with Rice Lake last Oct. 31, however, went to a penalty-kick shootout that Medford won to clinch its state berth and provide the most memorable moments in program history.
Tuesday’s tie was game one of a new season and an opportunity to build from and get better.
“It was a really good night to see everybody out there and playing in a real game format,” Bilodeau said. “Everyone performed well. The downside to it was we never scored. We know what to work on, we know what to fix, we know what to correct. We have three more games before we start conference play and we’re hoping to implement some changes before then.”
Medford expects to be challenged in the next three days, which should get the Raiders well-prepared for Tuesday’s Great Northern Conference opener with Rhinelander at Raider Field. Tonight, Thursday, the Raiders head to Appleton Xavier for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. On Saturday, Medford will host a triangular at Raider Field and square off with New London at 10 a.m. and Wisconsin Rapids at about 1:40 p.m. in 80-minute games.
“Every game we get to play is a good game for us to learn something from,” Bilodeau said. “If we can put a win under our belts against these teams, I think it will be a huge vote of confidence going into conference play next week.”
