Graduation losses create opportunities for 2023 team

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER PREVIEW

With the exit of a large nine-member senior class at the end of 2022, opportunities are created for the 2023 members of Medford’s girls soccer program.

And there are a lot of them.

The Raiders begin the new spring season with 46 players on the roster, which may be an all-time soccer record for a girls or boys team at Medford. That’s all right with third-year head coach Tanya Tessmann, who hopes the added depth at the varsity level, where 20 of the players will start the season, is a plus. JV coach Denice Poetzl will have more juggling to do with her numbers, but Medford is attempting to schedule as many JV games as it can to give everyone minutes.

“Having such a good turnout gives us the opportunity to actually choose a larger team for varsity this year, which then gives us a bigger bench and more options during games because you never know how each game is going to go,” Tessmann said before the team actually practiced in the foot-deep snow at Raider Field on Tuesday afternoon. “It’ll be an opportunity for the newer, younger players to practice and develop at that varsity level so carrying over into following years that will be a benefit.

“Of course right now we’re focused on this year,” she added. “One game at a time, one day at a time and that’s what I’m trying to do better as a coach is focusing on the immediate.”

The immediate already brings Medford’s first varsity game today, Thursday. It’s a non-conference matchup on turf in Eau Claire against Regis-McDonell that kicks off at 5 p.m. The Raiders have two more non-conference turf games in southern locales next week, Monday at Waupaca and April 6 at Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia, which also could realistically happen if the weather doesn’t take a major turn.

While getting the games in would be good, practice has been another story, obviously, with snow still figuring to cover area playing fields for some time.

“Last week we were in the elementary school gym with 46 girls,” Tessmann said. “So it’s been tight, but we do the best with what we got.

(Tuesday) we’re getting outside. We need some shots on a regular goal and I want the players to remember how big the field actually is. So we do want to practice outside for the first time.

It might be our only outside practice before our game on Thursday. We’ll work on some set plays, some corner kicks and just getting some shots.”

Of Medford’s five All-Great Northern Conference award winners in 2022, just junior Sierra Tessmann remains. Second- team forwards Lydia Pernsteiner and Gabby Brunner are gone as are second-team and honorable mention defenders Caitlin Doyle and Kelsey Jascor.

The Raiders do return seven letter winners from last year’s team which went 4-14-2 overall and 3-7 in the GNC. For the second straight spring, Medford was eliminated in a penalty-kick shootout by Amherst/Iola-Scandinavia in its first WIAA Division 3 tournament game. Those experienced players will be elevated to leadership roles as the rest of the young and inexperienced Raiders adjust to varsity play.

Sierra Tessmann, junior goalie Sophia Brunner and junior defender Nikki Poetzl were named this year’s captains on Tuesday.

Brunner begins her third year as the starter in goal and comes off a solid sophomore season. The Raiders allowed 3.3 goals per game last spring, but much of that damage was done in four games against powerful teams from Lakeland, Rhinelander and Ashland. Brunner and the defense recorded three shutouts, including a 3-0 win at GNC rival Mosinee.

“Sophia plays hockey during the winter season so I think that keeps her in shape and on her toes. She seems like she’s ready to go,” coach Tessmann said. Poetzl leads the defensive unit, which will include Talyn Peterson, who played well as a freshman last spring.

“Nikki played up a little higher last year but we’re moving her back to defense,” Tessmann said. “She’s a strong, solid player and I think she’ll thrive being in the back. She does well seeing the whole pitch and knows the game. She’ll be joined in the center by Talyn Peterson. She played outside more last year but we want to bring her into the center. Her teammates trust her to be able to pass the ball back to and to re-set the plays.”

Senior Hollyann Grube saw some varsity minutes late in the year and is part of the defensive mix along with senior newcomer Anna Gierl, junior addition Masaeda Krug, who switched from softball, and freshman Chloe Kapitz, who Tessmann said worked a lot with the varsity in the off-season and should fit right in.

Sierra Tessmann returns to her midfield role. She has a strong leg, strong passing ability and carries years of soccer experience. She scored six of Medford’s 20 goals last season and added two assists.

Sophomore Megan Schaefer moves up from the defensive end to fill a midfield spot and junior Madison Clarkson, who had a goal in a game against Rhinelander last season fills another. New candidates looking to take some midfield minutes include junior Hannah Fleegel and freshmen Makenna Tlusty and Bayley Metz.

“Some of them are newer to soccer. Others have played many years in youth and middle school and it’s exciting to see them come up,” coach Tessmann said of her newcomers.

Medford will need to im-prove its average of one goal per game from a year ago to make a move up the GNC standings.

Junior Alexis Szydel returns and is penciled in to start at left wing. She had one goal last year. An intriguing new forward is senior Valeria Polendo Soto.

“Valeria is new to soccer but she is aggressive, has put in a lot of work in the off-season and is learning the game,” Tessmann said. “We’re looking at her to potentially be a force up top, working with all of her teammates.”

Tessmann isn’t sure how the rotation will work out, but other forward candidates include seniors Kierstyn Halopka and Hannah Kapitz, sophomore Amelia Pernsteiner, who saw some varsity minutes last year, freshman Mallory Richter and sophomore Shayla Radlinger.

“Looking at last year, we had shots,” Tessmann said. “We worked hard on getting them on goal and then in the net. This year we’re hoping to capitalize on shooting a little bit more and hold strong on defense.”

The Raiders should learn a lot about their squad if they can get their first four non-conference road games in. Their GNC opener is a tough one at Rhinelander on April 13. Medford’s first home game isn’t scheduled to happen until April 17 when Wausau East is in town for a nonconference game. As for the GNC, Lakeland is the defending champion and coming off a WIAA Division 3 state tournament appearance. The T-Birds went 9-1 in the GNC and 15-3-3 overall. Rhinelander was right on Lakeland’s heels in league play at 8-1-1 but had a short playoff run in Division 2. The Hodags are back down to Division 3 this year. Northland Pines (44-2) and Mosinee (4-5-1) were just ahead of Medford in the GNC and Antigo (0-10) held its usual spot in the basement.

“We lost a lot of seniors but so did a lot of other schools,” Tessmann said. “Lakeland lost a lot of seniors, including the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year Sophia Myshchyschyn. I anticipate them to still be a strong team, along with Rhinelander. They still have the leader in points from last year with Ava Lamers. She’s a senior. I think they’ll be some of our toughest competition. We usually hold pretty tight with Mosinee and Northland Pines. We’ve talked about goals this season and again taking it game by game but we’d like to finish in the top half of the conference this year. That’s been a little tough the last couple of years with all of the strong teams, but it’s been close.”