MEDFORD BOYS SOCCER - Raiders shut out by T-Birds, Robins

MEDFORD BOYS SOCCER

The Medford Raiders did well to limit the scoring chances for Great Northern Conference leading Lakeland Tuesday, but without any real opportunities of their own they weren’t going to outscore the Thunderbirds in a 2-0 loss at Raider Field.

Lakeland got a goal in each half and that was enough for them to stay atop the standings as the GNC approaches the midpoint of its boys soccer season. The first round of games wraps up today, Thursday. Going into a matchup with Antigo, the T-Birds are 30-1 and have 11 points and hold a two-point lead over 3-1 Northland Pines.

Medford fell to 0-3-1 in the GNC and 0-4-2 overall with Tuesday’s loss.

Led by assistant coaches Jake Dassow and Onyi Ekwueme with head coach Adam Derr in Washington, D.C. for a work assignment, the Raiders possessed the ball for some stretches in the opening moments, but Lakeland began to assert itself nearly 13 minutes in. Ethan Seeliger pushed the ball into the box area, where Medford goal keeper Cale Schulz made a point-blank save on Dominic Gironella after he took a short crossing pass from Lincoln Friedley. Thirty seconds later, Schulz grabbed a bouncing ball in front of the net just before Gironella got to it. Twenty seconds after that, Gironella pulled a shot wide left of the net. Schulz got the save on a direct kick from Gironella at the 17:10 mark and he got a save on a hard shot by Friedley at 17:55.

Lakeland finally broke through at 23:57. Brent Olson pushed a pass from midfield to Marshall Holmquist on the left sideline. He sent the ball to Friedley in the corner. Friedley worked the end line, got the ball in front to Gironella, whose first shot was blocked, but he got the ball right back and scored.

Medford got a corner kick that did not result in a good shot at 31:10.

Lakeland got its second goal on a pretty pass from Connor Erickson at the 52:29 mark. His ball from the right side found the cutting Friedley, whose head shot tucked inside the upper right corner. Schulz made three more saves before leaving the game for about a minute after a collision with Friedley at 71:44. Friedley got a yellow card on the play.

Medford will try again to find some offense today, Thursday, when it travels to Mosinee for a 7 p.m. start. The Raiders are back at home Saturday for a noon kickoff against a solid Shawano squad in non-conference play. They’ll host Three Lakes-Phelps Tuesday at 7 p.m. in another non-conference matchup.

Antigo 1, Medford 0

The Raiders were on the wrong side of history last year when they were the victim of Antigo’s first-ever on-field GNC win in a 3-2 final and, on Thursday, they lost on the Red Robins’ home field again 1-0.

This time, Medford’s defense was solid except for one fluky hiccup that cost the Raiders in the 24th minute.

“The ball came in from the wing,” Derr said. “I’m not sure if we missed a kick trying to clear it out or they missed a kick trying to take a shot. But it bounced around a little bit, they finally hit a shot that bounced off two of our defenders and went in. There was not a lot Cale could do. It was one of those goals where someone has to get a foot on it and clear it out.”

That was one of only two shots Antigo put on goal, but it was enough to beat the Raiders, whose early-season struggles to find its offensive punch continued.

Medford had 16 shots total, eight of which were on goal. That compared to Antigo’s 10 total shots. Schulz had his only save on the Robins’ other shot on goal.

“We didn’t have a lot of good shots,” Derr said. “We’re still taking some long shots and not really working the ball as well as we can in the final third. Our decision making just has to be a little better in that final third.”

While falling to 0-3-2 overall at the time, Derr said the first five games certainly haven’t turned out the way the Raiders envisioned. But there were some positives to build off of in Thursday’s loss. He said the play of junior Lucas Mahner and freshman Beck Mayrer stood out to him. Freshmen Judah Wipf and Ethan Jones also continued to hold their own while getting good varsity minutes in the absences of some upperclassmen. He said co-captain Nathan Schuld played well too while leading the defensive back line.

“As a whole, I thought our defense played pretty well,” Derr said. “They only had the one really good scoring opportunity.”

Derr said the team continues to work hard and do good things in practice. It just has to find ways to bring that into game day and there is still a of lot season left to do just that.

“There are definitely no easy games in the conference this year front what I’ve seen,” he said. “I still see every game as a game we have a chance to be competitive in if we can just put everything together. We just haven’t put a full game together yet this season.”