MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER - Lumberjacks cut down Raiders 5-1; Pines rallies in second half

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

Freshman Liza Chan notched a hat trick and added an assist to lead the Wausau East Lumberjacks past Medford 5-1 Tuesday night in non-conference girls soccer.

The loss continued a tough road stretch that has left Medford (1-4-1) winless in its last five outings. The Raiders played short-handed in this one, knowing beforehand they would be without one senior captain, Megan Schaefer. They lost their other senior captain, Talyn Peterson, 29 minutes in. Both have ankle injuries that have them questionable for a contest at Great Northern Conference contender Rhinelander tonight, Thursday.

While Tuesday’s game didn’t go as Medford planned, head coach Tanya Tessmann felt the score did not reflect how the Raiders played.

“Our experienced players really stepped up and played a solid game,” Tessmann said. “Our wings, Bayley Metz and Mallory Richter did a great job of making runs and making good passes. Audrey Ruesch had some opportunities. We moved Shayla Radlinger back to the midfield and she helped us control things in that position. Defensively, Chloe Kapitz is always so consistent. Everyone got playing time and did well with switching around to other positions.”

Wausau East outshot Medford 21-10 with Raider goalie Payton Boelk making eight saves. The Raiders put five shots on goal. Boelk made a couple of nice plays early, aggressively getting to East corner kicks. The Raiders then had chances to draw first blood. At the eight minute, Radlinger and Richter worked together to set up a hard shot by Radlinger that was saved by East’s Maddy Bartz. Ruesch had a good shot that went high in the 14th minute.

But East wound up getting the first goal at 18:15 as Chan beat Medford’s back line and connected on a low left to right shot. Boelk kept it 1-0 with a nice sliding save on a point-blank shot by Fiona Ballard at 24 minutes. After losing Peterson, the Raiders still got the next good scoring chance, but Radlinger’s shot at 31:50 was saved.

At 36:26, Chan got control of the ball on the right side of East’s formation and was able score for a two-goal lead.

“On that one it looked like we did not drop back fast enough and Peyton probably came out a little too early,” Tessmann said.

Boelk jumped to stop a high shot early in the second half, but at 48:14, Brynn Bancuk tapped in Chan’s crossing pass. Boelk made a tough sliding save on Chan at 62:55, but East regained possession quickly and Eliana Schmidt’s pass found Chan for an open shot and score at 63:12.

The Raiders got their goal at 64:19. Kate Gierl advanced the ball to Radlinger, who sent the ball upfield. It was deflected by a Lumberjack, Layla Petersen ran it down and put it in the low right corner for her second goal of the season.

Schmidt answered a couple of minutes later, firing a hard, high shot that got under the crossbar from 25 yards out.

East improved to 4-3 with the win. Tonight, Medford will face a Hodag squad that took the very early GNC lead at 2-0 on Tuesday by winning 1-0 at defending champion Lakeland. Medford is 0-1 in league play. The Raiders will finally return to their home field Tuesday when they host Mosinee at 7 p.m. Then it’s their turn to go to Lakeland on May 1.

Pines 3, Medford 2

On Thursday afternoon, Medford played on grass for the first time this spring and got off to a great start, taking a 2-0 lead. But the tide turned the other way in the second half and host Northland Pines stormed back for a 3-2 win in the Great Northern Conference opener for both teams.

The Eagles got the winning goal with 5:18 left in the 80-minute game, getting the fortunate bounce off their corner kick. Schaefer got her head on it first, but when the ball hit the ground after that, it took a high bounce and an Eagle was able to head it on net and between the crossbar and Boelk’s fingertips.

Tessmann said the wind picked up noticeably in the second half and it happened to be in Pines’ favor, which was a factor. The Eagles took 12 shots in the second half, compared to just five in the first half. But the Raiders also broke down a couple of times defensively, leading to the Eagles’ first and tying goals at 48:51 and 64:07 off crossing passes to unmarked forwards.

“Obviously the girls were excited at halftime,” Tessmann said. “But when we talked, we said 40 minutes is a long time and a lot can happen. We have to play hard like it’s still 0-0.

“We did play hard the whole game,” she added. “It’s still learning that we can’t let down, you have to see it through to the end and not get down when things aren’t going your way.”

Things certainly went Medford’s way early with two first-half goals and a couple of near misses that could’ve widened the lead even further.

Richter got the first good shot of the game at 2:50. A little over nine minutes in, Peterson pressured an Eagle and stole the ball. Her pass ahead to Radlinger was a tad off the mark, but Schaefer got the ball back and got it to outside wing Metz, who touched it once then fired off a shot on the second touch that found the back of the net.

Metz nearly got a second goal 20 minutes later, but it sailed just high. Schaefer’s direct kick from just outside the goal box was saved and bobbled, but it was covered up just before Radlinger could get the rebounds. Another longer direct kick was on goal but saved.

The Raiders did finally get the second goal with nine seconds left in the half. Schaefer got a through ball to Richter, who carried it up the right side before sending it back to Schaefer, whose shot was perfect.

Medford finished with 12 shots, eight of which came from Schaefer. Richter had a shot and an assist. Metz got two shots and Peterson took one.

Boelk was credited with seven saves for the Raiders. Medford won a modified seven-on-seven, 40-minute JV game 3-0 with Abbie Marzinske and Lily Hoernke scoring goals.

“We’ll keep moving forward,” Tessmann said. “The Wausau East game will give us a chance to experiment a little more with players in different positions and hopefully that will make us better going into Rhinelander, which we know will be another hard, defensive game.

“We still have the same two end goals. We want to improve with every game and we want to be the best team we can be by the end of the season.”