Pines wins it late; Raiders get three from Pernsteiner in win

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

The Medford Raiders certainly haven’t packed it in as a soccer season that has included just three wins winds down.

But in another stellar defensive effort Tuesday, the Raiders were once again reminded that it’s impossible to win without scoring in a 1-0 loss to Northland Pines.

Shots were few and far between for either team in a game that was mostly played out in the middle of the field. But the Eagles got the break they needed at the 71:09 mark and got a goal from freshman Anna Westfall and they were able to hold on over the last eight minutes and change to clinch a third-place tie with Mosinee in the Great Northern Conference standings with 14 points. The Eagles finished 4-4-2 in league play with shootout losses. Medford, now 3-14-1 overall, wound up 3-7 in the GNC.

“We played really well as a team,” head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “The girls communicated well. They passed the ball well. Sierra Tessmann and Gabby Brunner always have some good passing sequences. We had a lot of throw-ins. The girls go to the ball. I feel like we outpossessed them.” Pines only had a slight advantage in shots at 10-8. The Eagles put seven on goal while Medford put six on goal keeper Emily Rottier-Douangmala.

The one that made the difference came on a shot that Medford goalie Sophia Brunner and a teammate or two defl ected, but it still found the left corner, for another tough break for the Raiders.

The first half was highlighted for Medford by two shots apiece from Kayla Szydel and Lydia Pernsteiner and a great save by Brunner on a one-on-one situation with a Pines attacker at the 16:30 mark. Brunner aggressively came out of the goal, challenged the ball handler and made the play.

The Raiders made another big defensive play in the second half, at about 58:30 when Brunner came out to make a save. A scramble ensued off the rebound and Tessmann said at least a couple of Raiders seemingly made saves before Brunner finally came out with possession of the ball.

“We played a good defensive game,” Tessmann said. “I really thought we were headed to a shootout but then they snuck that one in there.”

Medford will try to end the regular season on a positive note today, Thursday, when it hosts Altoona-Fall Creek at 6 p.m. at the Stetsonville field. The game was moved to allow for graduation preparation at Raider Field.

The WIAA Division 3 post-season tournament begins on Thursday, June 2. The Raiders drew the six-seed in their half of the sectional bracket and will visit third-seeded Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia (13-6) at 5 p.m. in a regional semifinal. The teams played May 6 with the Falcons coming away with a 3-0 win. The Falcons won a regional semifinal matchup last year in a shootout after the teams tied 1-1. The winner will play seventh-seeded New London (2-11) or second-seeded Ashland (14-3-1) in the regional final on Saturday, June 4.

Medford 4, Antigo 1

Seven losses and a tie since their last victory, the Raiders repeated their 4-1 win over Antigo from April 28 with another 4-1 victory Monday on the Red Robins’ home field. The game was postponed four days due to Thursday’s stormy weather, forcing Medford’s originallyscheduled game with Hayward to be canceled.

Pernsteiner led Medford’s efforts to break a 1-1 tie, recording a second-half hat trick to lead the Raiders to the win. Antigo actually scored the game’s first goal but did nothing offensively after that to fall to 0-9 in league play at the time.

“We had a lot of shots,” Tanya Tessmann said. “We were hoping more of them would go in. We just couldn’t get some of them to get past their goalie.”

The Raiders dominated possession and controlled the action. They fired off 36 shots, 18 in each half. Seven of those first-half shots were put on goal, but six were stopped by goalie Emma Lenzner.

The Red Robins, conversely, had just one shot in the first 40 minutes. But, it was a good one. At the 24:21 mark, Anita Derks-Williams got through Medford’s defense and booted a shot that found the upper opposite corner to give Antigo a 1-0 lead.

Medford, though, countered with the first goal of the year for senior Maddie Williams. It came at 30:15 when she was able to put the ball in the net off a deflected shot by a teammate.

Pernsteiner then put the game away by scoring in the 57th, 59th and 65th minute, with the last goal being a perfectlyplaced shot over Lenzner. The Raiders were a bit more accurate in the second half, putting 12 of their 18 shots on goal.

Pernsteiner had 13 shots and Gabby Brunner had 12. Sierra Tessmann had five shots, while Caitlin Doyle, Nikki Poetzl, Alexis Szydel and Williams had two apiece.

The game was one of the few Medford has played on grass this season and Tessmann said the players talked a lot about how the lengthy grass on Antigo’s field made passing and shooting difficult at times. But they made it work.

“It was fun to be on the winning end,” Tessmann said. “We were able to move some players around and let them have some fun playing different positions. We put Caitlin Doyle and Kelsey Jascor up front late in the game, hoping to get them opportunities. It was nice to get a win.”

Sophia Brunner stopped the two shots on goal Antigo managed in the second half.

Medford’s JV team did play Hayward at home and lost 2-0.

Tigers 2, Medford 0

The Raiders were short a few players and had to dip into their JV roster to have enough bodies Friday, but they managed to stick with New Richmond in a 2-0 non-conference loss at Raider Field.

Among the missing was the goal tender, Sophia Brunner, who went home sick during the day. Poetzl willingly took her place and did well, making seven saves on the nine shots that were on goal.

The two that got by came in the first half and gave the Tigers all the offense they needed.

“I was happy with the first half,” Tessmann said. “We didn’t know how it was going to go, especially being without our goalie, but we played well, we outshot them in the first half and, I thought, dominated the possession time. Unfortunately, we only had one shot in the second half. It was on goal, but that was all we got. They had 10 shots in the second and put four on goal. They definitely outshot us in that half.”

New Richmond’s goals were scored by Marah Bennedict in a four-minute span. On the first one, the Raiders were simply unable to clear the initial shot and Bennedict was there to eventually cash it in at about the 18:30 mark. At 22:22, she drilled a shot to the left corner that Poetzl had no chance on.

Medford got nine shots off in the first half, five of which were on goal.

“We just couldn’t get enough shots off,” Tessmann said. “Defensively we really played a good game. Maddie Eckert had a good game on defense.”

Six different players got shots. Pernsteiner took four. Tessmann, Gabby Brunner, Alexis Szydel, Doyle and Megan Schaefer also got shots off.

New Richmond improved to 8-7-3 with the win.

Raider Sierra Tessmann controls the ball in the middle of the field during the first half of Tuesday’s loss to Northland Pines.SHELLY HOUSTON PHOTO