MEDFORD CURLING - Raiders earn split in season’s first meet

MEDFORD CURLING

The Medford Area Senior High curling teams started their seasons Tuesday with a home match against the Marshfield Tigers.

The girls went into an extra end to secure an 8-7 win while the boys gave up a five-point lead and ended up losing 8-5.

“Both teams played well and created a lot of opportunities for themselves,” coach Jaclyn Lemke said. “The girls fought hard the entire game and made some big shots when they needed them. The boys started strong but then struggled to adjust to some changing ice conditions. Overall, a great start to the season.”

On the girls side, Marshfield came out strong scoring three in the first end. The Medford girls answered, scoring three to tie it up in the second end. Marshfield took advantage of the hammer to score one in the third end.

The Medford girls jumped ahead in the fourth end scoring another three. Marshfield picked up one point each in the fifth and sixth ends to tie it up. Medford answered back with one point in the seventh end, but Marshfield tied it up again in the eighth end at 7-7. The Medford girls came through in the extra end to win 8-7.

On the boys side, they were able to make clutch shots to build up a 5-0 lead after four ends. As ice conditions changed in the second half of the game, the Medford boys missed some key takeout opportunities to allow Marshfield to go on a scoring drive. The Tigers tied up the game going into the eighth end.

With a minefield of guard rocks in front of the house and three of Marshfield’s rocks touching or surrounding the four-foot circle in the house, Medford boys skip Alex Wilson wasn’t able to thread the needle to get the needed take out resulting in a win for Marshfield.

The teams travel to Wausau on Friday to take on D.C. Everest. Medford hosts Waupaca Tuesday at 3:45 before heading to Portage for the Battle of the Brooms on Dec. 8.