Raiders gain respect with this spring’s improvements

ALL-GNC GIRLS SOCCER

The Medford Raiders started girls soccer play this spring in the Great Northern Conference with a 6-0 loss at Rhinelander on April 13 where the Hodags scored all of their goals before halftime.

They ended the season coming within one bad break of taking the Hodags to overtime in a 1-0 WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal loss.

The team’s improvement in between those games gained the attention of the coaches in the conference, who presented Medford with a program-record six individual awards in the voting process for the 2023 All-Great Northern Conference teams, including a record-tying two firstteam selections.

Third-year head coach Tanya Tessmann was also voted by her peers as this year’s GNC Coach of the Year. She’s the first Raider coach to win that award in girls soccer.

The Raiders knew at the start of the year it would be a challenge to catch league powerhouses Lakeland and Rhinelander, but they set a goal of finishing in the upper half of the six-team conference at year’s end. They did that with a 5-5 GNC record, a two-game improvement over last year, and a third-place finish, well ahead of 3-6-1 Northland Pines and Mosinee. In 2-0 and 1-0 losses, they hung tough with Lakeland, who was coming off a 2022 WIAA Division 3 state appearance last year and won the league again this year at 10-0. Medford had a better second showing with Rhinelander on May 9, taking a 1-0 game into halftime before falling 4-0.

Medford finished 6-14 overall this season, up from 4-14-1 a year ago.

Medford scored three more goals than last year in GNC play at 16 and that’s still an area where the team wants to improve. But its big jump in 2023 came defensively where the Raiders went from allowing 37 goals in 10 GNC games last year to allowing just 18 this year, a drop of nearly two goals per game.

The defensive progress was rewarded with junior goal keeper Sophia Brunner being named to the All-GNC first team, sophomore defender Talyn Peterson earning a second-team spot and senior defender Holly Grube getting honorable mention.

Medford’s more aggressive midfield crew also put a player on each level with junior Sierra Tessmann joining Brunner on the first team, and junior Madison Clarkson and sophomore Megan Schaefer getting honorable mention.

Tessmann and Brunner are Medford’s first All-GNC first-team duo since Sasha Jascor and Ashley Turner in Medford’s debut varsity season of 2009-10. Medford had five players total gain All-GNC awards in four previous seasons, including last year. After Jascor returned to the first team in 2011, Medford did not have a first-team pick until Jasmine Wiitala in 2021.

Brunner ranked third in the GNC with an .818 save percentage, stopping 81 of 99 shots on goal that she faced in league play. Her 1.8 goals against average ranked fourth. But she saw considerably more action than the keepers ranked ahead her. Lakeland’s Ava Evenhouse went 8-0 in league play and allowed just one goal, but she only made 27 saves behind the conference’s best team defense. Rhinelander’s Mya Krouze stopped 29 of 35 shots she faced for an .829 save percentage and 0.62 goals against average.

Peterson had a noticeable impact in breaking up opponent pushes into Medford territory in the middle of the field in her second varsity season and Grube was among the team leaders in non-goalie saves and was one of the team’s best in clearing balls away in loose-ball scrambles in front of the goal.

Tessmann and Schaefer led Medford in scoring both overall and in GNC play. Part of the reduced scoring by opponents can also be attributed to more possession time for the Raiders in the midfield and offensive ends of the pitch, which is where their play, as well as that of Clarkson, came into play.

Tessmann scored four goals and had two assists for 10 points in GNC play, tying Lakeland’s Taylor Heleniak for 11th place in scoring. Schaefer added three goals and an assist for seven points in league play. Overall, Tessmann had six points and three assists, while Schaefer had four goals and two assists.

Tessmann’s goal off a direct kick was the only goal in Medford’s 1-0 win over Northland Pines on May 2, the Raiders’ first win over Pines in 10 years. Schaefer’s goal was the only score in Medford’s 1-0 win at Mosinee on May 11. Both scored goals in an 8-0 win at Antigo on May 18 and Tessmann had two assists. Both also had goals in a 3-2 win at Northland Pines on May 23 that sealed the third-place finish.

Clarkson got a handful of shots on goal and had a pass that set up a goal for Valeria Polendo Soto in the win at Antigo.

Tessmann was one of seven unanimous choices on the 12-member All-GNC first team. Co-Offensive Players of the Year Ava Lamers of Rhinelander and Maria Gironella of Lakeland were two more, as was Defensive Player of the Year Callie Ullius of Lakeland. Lamers ranked first in goals with 14 and points with 50 in GNC play. Her sophomore teammate Sophie Miljevich ranked second in goals (14), first in assists (16) and second in points (44) while earning a unanimous first-team spot. Cassidy Sternhagen and Zoe Anderson of Northland Pines were the other unanimous picks. Kaitlyn Selle and Gabby Muñoz of Mosinee, Emma Chiamulera of Rhinelander and Josie Wentland of Lakeland rounded out the squad.

Rhinelander knocked off Lakeland 1-0 in a WIAA Division 3 regional final and advanced the farthest of any GNC team in the post-season. The Hodags lost to sectional champion Ashland 4-1 in a sectional semifinal game last Thursday.

Lakeland went 15-2 overall losing only to Rhinelander and Ashland. Northland Pines (8-9-3) got to a Division 4 regional final, losing 2-0 at top-seeded Baldwin-Woodville.

Sophia Brunner First Team

Sierra Tessmann First Team

Talyn Peterson Second Team

Holly Grube Hon. Mention

Madison Clarkson Hon. Mention

Megan Schaefer Hon. Mention