Soccer team has tough time with Lamers in loss to Hodags

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

The Medford Raiders opened Great Northern Conference play Thursday against the Rhinelander Hodags, who are typically one of their toughest league rivals and that was the case again in a 6-0 defeat at Mike Webster Stadium.

Rhinelander did all of its damage in the first half, with five of its goals coming in the first 13 minutes. While that barrage quickly and greatly reduced Medford’s chances of winning, the Raiders did finally settle in and held the Hodags scoreless in the last 57 minutes, which they took as the night’s key positive.

“Despite the score the girls were really excited that they were able to stay strong and be able to hold them,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “That has us re-energized going into practice (Friday) and into next week.”

Ava Lamers, the conference’s leading scorer a year ago, took a big step toward reclaiming that spot with two goals and three assists. A shot that was officially scored as an own goal also came off her foot.

Lamers’ first goal came 2:40 into the game off a throw-in. The curving linedrive shot tucked into the upper corner over Brunner’s left shoulder Tessmann said was an amazing, virtually unstoppable shot from 18 yards out.

“We were slow marking up on that first one,” Tessmann said.

The own goal came at 4:23 as the Raiders tried to stop a shot headed toward the post to Brunner’s right. At 10:22, Lamers pushed the ball ahead to Leah Weigel, who got behind Medford’s defensive line and buried a low shot going left to right. Lamers made another tough shot at 12:08, weaving her way through four Raiders that appeared to have her trapped. She then assisted on a cross to Sophie Miljevich at 13:15. Lamers missed a penalty kick in the 20th minute, hitting the post, but her centering pass gave Miljevich the final goal at 23:12.

“We knew they were going to be tough coming out right away,” Tessmann said. “But we probably didn’t realize how fast they were going to be. We’ve been working a lot on formation the last couple of days and that was something we were still trying to tweak. We got better after the first 15 minutes.”

Just before the sixth goal, Medford senior defender Hollyann Grube gave the team a scare by going down with a leg injury, but fortunately, she did return to the game later on.

“We had some good passing going on, especially in the second half,” Tessmann said. “The girls knew they had done better holding them in the second half of the first half and they wanted to continue to hold them after halftime. They came out aggressive and weren’t giving in. They were running with them shoulder-toshoulder and elbow-to-elbow while going for the ball. We pressured better, we were dropping back better and covering better and Brunner made some great saves. Even the opposing coach credited her after the game for the great saves she made.”

Medford’s stats showed Rhinelander taking 26 shots with Brunner getting 15 saves. Sierra Tessmann and Alexis Szydel combined for Medford’s four shots. Coach Tessmann credited Talyn Peterson for her constant pressure against Hodag ball handlers. Unfortunately the second- half momentum from Thursday that Medford hoped to carry into this week hit a wall with the latest winter storm to hit the area. Non-conference games against Wausau East at home Monday and at Altoona-Fall Creek Tuesday were postponed due to Sunday night’s snowstorm. The Wausau East game has been rescheduled for Friday with a 6 p.m. start at Raider Field. Medford also hopes to get on the Raider Field turf tonight, Thursday, when it is scheduled to face Mosinee at 7 p.m. in a GNC contest. Next week features a Tuesday game at defending GNC champion Lakeland Tuesday, a home game with Antigo on April 27 and a non-conference trip to New Richmond on April 28.