Raiders hang with T-Birds, get whitewash against Lumberjacks

Momentum from the season’s first soccer win of the season didn’t carry the Medford Raiders to a major Great Northern Conference upset Tuesday night, but the Lakeland Thunderbirds got a fight in their 2-0 home win.

The Raiders held the defending conference champions scoreless through the first half before the T-Birds finally scored nearly 11 minutes into the second half and then put in an insurance goal with about 20 minutes to play. Lakeland went to 3-0 in league play to remain tied with Rhinelander atop the GNC standings.

Medford fell to 0-2 in league play and 1-6 overall but encouraged by the progress shown in the last week.

“It was a good game,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “The girls just played solid. We held them. It was 0-0 at halftime. They definitely had more shots on goal than we did, but we were able to hold them. The girls seemed composed and patient.”

Medford’s junior goalkeeper Sophia Brunner finished with 20 saves on the 22 Lakeland shots that found the net. Medford’s book showed 29 total shots behind taken by the Thunderbirds.

Medford had one good rush early, resulting in a shot for Shayla Radlinger that was stopped. A Lakeland shot hit the crossbar in the 22nd minute and near the end of the half, Lakeland got on a quick breakaway opportunity but the shot went wide.

In the second half, in the 48th minute, Lakeland’s pressure resulted in backto- back shots that Brunner made strong saves on. But at 50:56, the T-Birds finally broke the ice. Josie Wentland took a corner kick that Medford actually got the first touch on, but the ball deflected back to Wentland and she tucked it into the upper corner.

At 59:39, a well-executed give-and-go resulted in Alyson Lazaroff sneaking in a shot between the crossbar and Brunner’s fingers.

“Masaeda Krug has stepped in and played well on defense,” Tessmann said. “She’s played a lot in the last two games and gotten stronger with each game. She had a strong performance. Talyn Peterson was just solid the whole game and Anna Gierl had a nice game. They put a lot of pressure on the ball.”

Radlinger put two shots on goal and Madison Clarkson and Alexis Szydel each put a shot on goal.

“We need to be more creative and make more runs on the offensive end,” Tessmann said.

The Raiders enter a stretch of games now where they feel they certainly should be competitive. It starts with a 5 p.m. game today, Thursday, against Antigo at Raider Field. The game will serve as the team’s Senior Night for 2023. The Raiders go to New Richmond Friday for a 6:30 p.m. start. The Tigers edged Medford 2-0 last year. Medford hosts Northland Pines Tuesday and Mosinee on May 4 in 7 p.m. starts in GNC action.

Medford 4, East 0

The Raiders’ had their first offensive breakthrough of the season Friday, scoring three first-half goals en route to a 4-0 shutout victory over Wausau East at Raider Field.

Four different players scored the goals as the Raiders found ways to get past East’s defensive line to create one-on-one scoring opportunities against East goaltender Madalyn Bartz.

Bartz also had the misfortune of having to look directly into blinding whiteout conditions during a 10-minute snow squall late in the first half when Medford scored two of its goals.

“It was miserable,” Medford co-captain Sierra Tessmann said of the short but powerful burst of snow. “It was not even so much that it was cold, but more that it felt like ice scratching the faces and I know some girls had shorts on. It hurt. We luckily had it on our side going with it. Looking into it you couldn’t see anything. I know (teammate) Bayley Metz said once I can’t see where the ball is and next second it went right by her head.”

Tanya Tessmann said the Raiders’ start wasn’t great as they weren’t getting effective touches on the ball and their formation got out of shape at times. The Raiders were without two senior defenders, Hollyann Grube and Gierl, but the girls eventually adjusted.

“We were missing a few starters, so we were messing around with positions a little bit and waiting to see how the game was going to go and then we modified a little bit more,” coach Tessmann said.

Medford’s first goal came at the 21:12 mark of the first half. Krug threw the ball in from the sideline over the midfield stripe and found Megan Schaefer, who got control and immediately accelerated past a defender to get a one-on-one shot with Bartz. That shot went right under the diving Bartz.

From there, Medford’s offensive pressure built through the rest of the half. Sierra Tessmann had a point-blank shot at 27:55 that Bartz saved. The Raiders had good chances on consecutive corner kicks from Tessmann in the 30th minute but couldn’t punch it in as the snow started to fall.

At 35:40, Tessmann got another chance and didn’t miss it. Hannah Kapitz gained possession on the defensive end and pushed it to Radlinger in the middle of the field, she pushed a quick pass to Tessmann, who scored at the end of a 50-yard sprint.

“I was just hoping it wasn’t offsides because I didn’t know who was behind me,” Tessmann said. “I couldn’t see anyone in my peripheral vision so it was just go as fast as you can and wait for the goalie to come out and hopefully you can just get that touch away from her and not shoot it right at her.”

At 38:42, Medford won a battle for the ball after Bartz punted it out of the box and it got pushed ahead to Mallory Richter, who got a one-on-one chance and buried it inside the left post. “I think once we got that first one everyone was like we can actually pull through versus more of the containing and keeping,” Tessmann said of the offensive confidence. “It got us going. Once we got the one, then we got to two to give us some leeway, we didn’t let up either. We want those goals when we can get them.”

The fourth goal was executed at the 54:22 mark of the second half. Amelia Pernsteiner carried the ball up the right sideline and, when she met some resistance, she dropped it back to Schaefer who sent a line drive kick that found Valeria Polendo Soto right at the doorstep. She pushed the ball past Bartz with her knee and then tapped it in for an uncontested score that all but ended it as East got next to no penetration into Medford’s defensive end the rest of the way.

“I think it will be a great pick me up for the girls,” Sierra Tessmann said of the team’s first win after five losses to start the year. “I think we definitely had the offensive game going. I think that was good to try that out too and work on our shots after not being outside. I think we’ll have a little pep in our step now.”

wisconsin.gov or 715-284-1403.

Medford’s Alexis Szydel gets behind Wausau East’s Madison Cornell and Makayla Socha and puts a shot on goal early in the second half of Friday’s 4-0 win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS