Raiders quickly take fight out of West’s reserve Warriors
MEDFORD BOYS SOCCER
The Medford Raiders tuned up for a key stretch of upcoming Great Northern Conference play Monday with an easy 8-0 win over Wausau West’s varsity reserve.
While disappointed they didn’t see the Warriors’ best team, the Raiders did fix their recent trend of slow starts in this one by taking charge early. Medford had five goals in the first 21 minutes, led 6-0 at halftime and ended the game about 14 minutes early via the mercy rule at the 66:02 mark.
Naut van Meurs led the Raiders with a hat trick and two assists. Silas Wipf and Zach Rudolph added two goals each and Mason Gripentrog finished things with a penalty kick after West was whistled for a hand ball in the goalie box.
Medford improved to 7-1-2 overall heading into a stretch that will determine the Raiders’ GNC fate and play a big role in determining their post-season positioning.
It starts tonight, Thursday, with a trip to Rhinelander for a 7 p.m. rematch with the Hodags who Medford tied 1-1 on Aug. 30. Medford won the post-game penaltykick shootout to gain the extra point for the GNC standings, where the Raiders are currently tied with Lakeland. Both teams have 11 points, one point ahead of Rhinelander.
The reason Medford and Lakeland are tied is that Medford’s game at Northland Pines scheduled for last Thursday was postponed. The make-up date is this coming Tuesday, Sept. 27 with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. From there, Medford takes a third straight trip to the Northwoods on Sept. 29 for a big rematch with Lakeland, who the Raiders beat 4-1 in the teams’ first meeting on Sept. 1.
After a non-conference game with Black River Falls/Melrose-Mindoro on Oct. 1, Medford hosts another tough GNC opponent, Mosinee, on Oct. 4. Soccer seeding meetings are scheduled for Oct. 9.
In Monday’s win over the Warriors’ reserves, van Meurs, working off an Aaron Schield throw-in, set up Wipf at pointblank range for the game’s first goal at 7:02. At 9:05, off a Schield corner kick, van Meurs headed the ball toward the net and Wipf deflected it with his foot over goalie Alex Voight.
Rudolph’s blast at 13:25 made it 3-0, then van Meurs followed with back-toback goals at 16:50 and 21:06 with assists from Wipf and Rudolph. Aidan Ball stole a pass from Voigt and got the ball to Rudolph whose initial shot was stopped, but he kept working with the rebound and punched it in for a 6-0 lead at the 24:01 mark.
The hat trick was completed for van Meurs at 44:48 with an assist from Schield and it stayed 7-0 until Gripentrog put in the clinching penalty kick.
Wausau West did play its varsity at home against Lakeland on Tuesday and won 3-2.
