MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER - Raiders weather storm, PK shootout

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

The experienced core group of Medford’s girls soccer team has been involved in three penalty-kick shootouts since 2021 and come up short in all three, including two in WIAA tournament play against Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia.

After sitting through a 90-minute lightning delay and fighting through miserably wet, cold and ferociously windy conditions Tuesday night, the Raiders weren’t about to lose another one.

Senior goalie Sophia Brunner made sure of that, stopping the last two shots Northland Pines took to preserve the 3-2 shootout win that followed what officially goes down as a 0-0 tie with the Eagles in the teams’ Great Northern Conference opener.

Sierra Tessmann, Megan Schaefer and Shayla Radlinger had the goals in the shootout. Medford earned a 2-1 edge over Pines in conference points by winning the shootout.

The 80 minutes of regulation time were dominated by the weather. The game started at 7 p.m. in a heavy downpour and was stopped just 5:22 in when the first lightning bolt was observed. Per WIAA rules, the game couldn’t restart until conditions were lightning free for 30 minutes. That restart didn’t happen until about 8:40 p.m.

“When we came out again we knew it was going to be cold,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “Pines came all this way, they really wanted to play if we could play it and it looked like it was going to be clearing. If it got to 8:30 and there was another lightning strike we weren’t going to restart it. If we could get started before 9, we were going to run with that.

“When we came out the wind was actually a little bit better and there was less rain, but it was colder,” she added. “That’s the worst to play in when it’s cold with the rain.”

The wind, which constantly howled in the 20-30 mph range and likely gusted close to 40 mph at times, primarily came out of the east, seemingly giving the team shooting toward the west goal an advantage. Medford was that team in the first half. But, that’s not really how things played out.

“If you were going with the wind, the ball was going too far,” Medford co-captain Sierra Tessmann said. “If the wind was going against us, the ball just kind of stopped. So you had to find a medium and learn to play with it.”

“It was a hard game for both teams,” Tanya Tessmann said. “Both teams are playing the same weather, but one can still have an advantage with the wind. It can change in a second. You could be going with the wind and it’s an advantage. You could be going against the wind and it could also be an advantage. You just never know. The littlest touch would send the ball all the way down the field.”

Pines outshot Medford 8-4, but each team put just one of their shots on goal in regulation.

In the five-round shootout, the teams shot with the wind toward the west goal. Eagle Zoe Anderson went first and scored, but she was matched by Sierra Tessmann who found the net on a low shot inside the right post.

“I just envisioned it going in,” Tessmann said. “We work on those. You just pick a side and have accuracy. I work on that more than versus power and then put it together, accuracy and power.”

Brunner got her first save of the shootout in the next round as Ava Gaetano’s kick went right at her. Schaefer went to her left to beat Eagle goalie Sammy Nampel to put Medford up 2-1. Emma Weber went low to her left and scored, while Raider Mallory Richter missed wide right, creating a 2-2 tie through three rounds.

Brunner turned the tide in round four, diving to her right to save a low shot by Ryyn Darr. Radlinger hit the upper corner to her right to put Medford in front and put Brunner in a position where a save would clinch it. She got it diving to her left to smother a shot by Grace Plank.

“I was trying to stay calm, just trying to do what we do in practice,” Brunner said. “I always take a deep breath, I think that helps. Sometimes it’s a complete guess which way they’re going to shoot and then sometimes I look at body position, where they’re looking. Just certain things. But we practice it a lot.”

Sierra Tessmann said the team was confident going into the shootout.

“Even though we didn’t win it (in regulation), we know we’ve been working on our penalty kicks and we can get those and we have Sophia, our girl,” she said. “We have confidence. We knew we could do good.”

“It’s always kind of a guess,” Brunner said of her last two saves. “Normally you’re not going to have enough time to get there if you wait until they kick the ball, so it’s normally a guess. I could tell kind of by their eyes and body position. I ended up being correct.”

Medford now stands at 3-1-2 overall and has allowed just one goal in six games. The team officially has five shutouts already to its credit as it looks forward to a key GNC matchup tonight, Thursday, at Rhinelander, who is 1-0 in league play and 4-0 overall.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Brunner said. “We’re hoping for better weather. I think we know we can play good defense and stop shots as a team. When we have opportunities we can get up the field and score. It should be a good game.”

Medford is at Mosinee on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and then has another showdown with a GNC power April 25 when it hosts Lakeland at 7 p.m.

Medford 1, Shawano 0

The defense was stellar on Monday as Brunner had seven saves and Masaeda Krug had a clutch non-goalie save early in a 1-0 non-conference win over visiting Shawano.

Schaefer’s goal at 26:58 was the difference. She got to the ball after it was knocked away from teammate Mallory Richter, wound up and shot from 25 yards out, perfectly placing it under the crossbar and over the right hand of the goalie.

Medford put together several strong runs, particularly in the first half. Radlinger hit a post 15:50 in. Radlinger led Medford with four shots, putting two on goal. Schaefer had two shots on goal as well. Medford outshot the Hawks 12-9 but clearly had the better opportunities. Eight Raiders had at least one shot.

“We had some good looks,” coach Tessmann said. “The girls seemed composed, they were looking for passes. We had good communication out there both on the defensive and offensive side. We didn’t do the best in the first half with the 50-50 balls and being the first ones to them, but that got a lot better in the second half. We talked about that at halftime. We did see that improve. We won most of the 50-50 balls in the second half.”

In their fifth game, the fourth that ended with a shutout, Tessmann said the Raiders were noticeably playing with confidence.

“The defense held tight. Talyn (Peterson) was all over. Masaeda had a non-goalie save. We got some corner kicks. Shawano was playing two up top so sometimes that makes you a little nervous defensively. Do you still pull people in on our corner kicks? We’ve been pulling two of our defense up when we take corners. But we know we can still be confident in that knowing we’ll drop back quickly if we need to.

“They believe it. We have confidence that we can do this.”

Shawano won the JV game 3-2, holding on as Medford tried to rally from a 3-0 deficit. Stacey Dassow and Natalie Preuss had the Raiders’ goals in the second half.

Medford’s Mallory Richter advances the soccer ball into Shawano territory during the first half of Monday’s 1-0 win. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS