Defensive mindset keeps it close; one bad break decides it

WIAA DIV. 3 GIRLS SOCCER

The girls soccer season ended Thursday night for the Medford Raiders, but they went down fighting in a 1-0 loss at Great Northern Conference power Rhinelander in a WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal.

Not only did the teams battle each other for 80 minutes, they had to work around an early punch from Mother Nature, who delayed the start of the game about a half-hour due to a pre-game lightning strike, and an invasion of mosquitos had everyone on the field swatting and those on the sidelines reaching for insect repellent in the game’s last 20 minutes.

Between the white lines, the sixthseeded Raiders knew what they had to accomplish if they wanted to knock off the third-seeded Hodags. That was to limit the GNC’s highest-scoring offense and either get the game to a post-overtime shootout or take advantage of whatever offensive opportunities they may get.

For the most part, especially on the defensive end, they did what they set out to do.

“We knew going into the game that Rhinelander had the top two points scorers in the conference in goals and assists (Ava Lamers and Sophia Miljevich),” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “Just based on our own history, we knew our best bet was to play a defensive game and to hold them down if we could. I think we did that.”

Rhinelander’s lone goal did come from Lamers and it was off what Tessmann said was a mistake. It came off a Rhinelander corner kick just after halftime, at the 42:27 mark. The kick went to the far side and Tessmann said the hope in those cases is to obviously clear it out of the goalie box area, or sometimes it’s best to let the ball bounce through to make sure it stays away from the middle.

Unfortunately, the ball ricocheted to the middle, where Lamers reacted quickly and banged it home on the first touch.

“Soccer in general is a low-scoring game where even one mistake can be the difference,” Tessmann said. “But this wasn’t our prettiest game. There were other mistakes that we made. In the end, we came in determined to hold them and I think we accomplished and did what we wanted to do.”

The Raiders dodged some bullets early. Medford goalie Sophia Brunner saved a shot by Lamers at the 4:55 mark and at 6:40, Miljevich got a nice bounce off a long pass and weaved her way to a good look that hit the far post and bounced to a teammate. Medford’s Anna Gierl was there to block the rebound shot. Brunner saved a shot by Leah Weigel at 8:15.

Then, as the Raiders, settled in, the Raiders started to tilt the field back in their favor, getting a couple of runs into Hodag territory, a shot from Sierra Tessmann that went wide left, an Alexis Szydel shot that was deflected and a corner kick from Tessmann at 19:30 that the Raiders couldn’t quite make solid con-tact on right in front of Hodag goalie Mya Krouze.

“We missed some opportunities,” Tanya Tessmann said. “Sometimes our crosses didn’t make it or we’d cross it when we might’ve had a shooting opportunity.”

Brunner had 13 saves on 22 shots taken by Rhinelander and on more than a handful of occasions made quick and correct decisions as to when to attack the ball and come out of the box to get it or when to stay back.

“Sophia did a great job,” Tessmann said. “She’s an aggressive goalie. When she made a decision to go outside the box, she didn’t hesitate. She came out and she made the play. She did what we needed her to do.”

One of those big plays came at 49:40 when the Hodags got a pass right down the middle to the sprinting Miljevich. Brunner slid to get the ball off her foot just before she could push it into the net. At 61:50, Medford didn’t quite connect again on a corner-kick chance. Rhinelander nearly got Miljevich free again at the 64-minute mark, but one long dribble gave the diving Brunner the chance to snag it before Miljevich could get a shot off.

Medford finished with five shots on goal, three from Megan Schaefer and one each from Tessmann and Szydel. In the last 10 minutes, the Raiders got the ball to Szydel for multiple runs up the left sideline, but Rhinelander defended them well, preventing any hard shots on goal.

Rhinelander (14-5) went on to beat GNC champion Lakeland 1-0 in Saturday’s regional final and will be at top-seeded Ashland (17-2-2) in a sectional semifinal tonight, Thursday.

“Our deep bench allowed us to sub a lot and keep our starters fresh, even if it was for short one- or two-minute breaks,” Tessmann said. “Everyone when they were out there gave 100%. You could tell they were all working hard, no one was giving up. They were playing hard.

“There were tears at the end,” Medford’s third-year coach added. “Not so much because of the loss but just because they didn’t want the season to end. These girls enjoyed playing with each other. It’s the most tight-knit group we’ve had since I’ve been coaching.”

With the loss, Medford says goodbye to five seniors, Gierl, Hannah Kapitz, Holly Grube, Valeria Polendo Soto, and Kierstyn Halopka, but could return up to 15 girls who played significant varsity minutes this spring.

“We have a great group coming up,” Tessmann said.

Medford’s Holly Grube wins possession of the ball and gets it out of the defensive corner before Rhinelander’s Leah Weigel can take it early in Thursday’s first half.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS Medford defender Nikki Poetzl kicks the ball away from the front of the net during the second half of Thursday’s 1-0 loss.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS