Set plays hurt Raiders in GNC losses

MEDFORD BOYS SOCCER

Three straight wins seemed to have put momentum back on Medford’s side heading into two key Great Northern Conference road games, where wins could have vaulted them back into position to climb into second place in the league standings.

Instead, the biggest issue that has plagued them all fall long bit them again at inopportune times in a 1-0 loss at Lakeland Thursday and 3-1 loss at Mosinee Tuesday.

All three of Mosinee’s goals Tuesday came off set plays as did Lakeland’s only goal in an otherwise well-played defensive battle under the lights.

The results left Medford at 3-5 and in fourth place in the GNC with two league games left and 5-6-1 overall. They also did the Raiders no favors heading into Sunday’s seeding meeting for the WIAA Division 3 regional.

“All four goals in these two matches were from set plays,” Medford head coach Nathan Bilodeau said. “If you take that one step further, every goal this year, other than two –– Pines and Rhinelander each had a goal in play –– every goal scored against us was from a set play. That’s so frustrating as a coach because we practice these things. It’s just a mental awareness of marking up and covering open spaces and just making sure we’re running with those guys. We’re just caught flat-footed a lot of times.”

The Indians completed a season sweep of the Raiders, outscoring them 6-1, all on those set-play goals. Mosinee built an insurmountable 3-0 lead in Tuesday’s win and improved to 6-2 in the GNC and 12-4 overall.

The first of Mosinee’s two first-half goals came on a bit of a fluke. A corner kick simply deflected off a Raider defender and into the net for an own goal.

“That stuff happens. It’s unlucky,” Bilodeau said.

The second goal came off a direct kick from just outside the 18-yard goalie box. Goal keeper Jake Dassow made a nice play by deflecting the initial shot. The ball, however, bounced off a post and the Indians were simply quicker to the rebound with Garret Donohue getting the goal.

“We were all just standing and watching and they ran in and kicked it in,” Bilodeau said.

The conference leading scorer, Toren Holtz put in the third goal off a direct kick before the Raiders broke the shutout at about the 60-minute mark when Zach Rudolph was able to break through and put a shot on goal that was initially saved by Keaton Wieloch, but Gage Neubauer was in the right spot to punch in the rebound.

The Raiders will wrap up their regular season and try to clean up the set-play errors with four games in eight days starting with a trip to Antigo today, Thursday. Game time is 4 p.m. The Red Robins are again winless in league play, but they do have five non-conference wins, which is the most they’ve had quite some time.

Next week brings back-to-back 7 p.m. non-conference games at Raider Field against Merrill and Marshfield on Monday and Tuesday. The GNC, home and regular-season finale is Thursday, Oct. 14 against Northland Pines.

“On paper we don’t look hot, but I know we’re a top contending team,” Bilodeau said. “We just need to button up a few things and hope that we learn from these mistakes and not let them happen, but that’s kind of been the story of the year. Set plays, corner kicks, free kicks, penalty kicks –– all of the aspects of the game where they score when the ball isn’t moving or not in play. This is what’s costing us games. Our play is there. We’re playing well. We have to figure that part of it out.”

Lakeland 1, Medford 0

A well-played, defensive battle at GNC-leading Lakeland Thursday turned on one quick moment in the second half.

In a scoreless tie, a foul was called just outside the 18-yard goalie box and Lakeland was awarded a free kick. As Medford was scrambling to get in place to defend it, Lakeland’s top goal scorer, Yaroslav Myshchyshyn, alertly put the ball down, shot and scored what wound up being the game’s only goal.

“At Lakeland we actually played really well,” Bilodeau said. “They’re obviously the team to beat in the conference right now. The goal that they scored was a set play right in front of the 18, so they were about 20 yards out. We were trying to figure out who was going to be on the wall, Jake was trying to direct where the wall was going to be. Guys weren’t set and ready to go and Myshchyshyn just set the ball down and kicked it when we were not paying attention.”

At the time, Lakeland remained unbeaten and unscored upon in seven GNC games. The unscored upon streak ended in a surprising 4-4 tie with Rhinelander Tuesday. Lakeland can clinch the outright GNC title today, Thursday, with a win at Northland Pines. The T-Birds beat Medford 2-0 in the teams’ first meeting back on Sept. 2 and figure to be the top seed in the nine-team regional.

“It was a disappointing loss, but that’s our story this year,” Bilodeau said.