MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER - Raiders pay back Pines with rally from an early 2-0 deficit

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

Medford’s girls soccer team started Great Northern Conference play April 17 by allowing a 2-0 lead to get away in a 3-2 loss at Northland Pines. On Tuesday, the Raiders returned the favor.

On their Community Cares Night at Raider Field, Medford fell behind 2-0 less than four minutes in but tightened up defensively after that, created more offensive opportunities as the game progressed and won it 3-2 on Kodi Rappe’s goal with 3:47 remaining.

“In those situations you always say there’s a lot of game left,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said. “But soccer is a game where there often isn’t a lot of scoring. Even though there is a lot of game left, you don’t always come back from that. The girls didn’t lose hope and they kept pressing.”

Layla Petersen and Bayley Metz scored Medford’s first goals as the Raiders pulled even with Pines in the conference standings at 3-3. They trail 6-0 Rhinelander and 5-1 Lakeland, both of whom will visit Raider Field in the next week. Rhinelander is scheduled to visit tonight, Thursday, at 5 p.m. in a game time moved up to try to beat forecasted storms.

“It’s nice to hear that we are tied for third in the conference right now,” senior co-captain Talyn Petersen said. “I really didn’t expect that actually.”

The Eagles’ two quick goals came on perfect kicks by Grace Plank. The first came at 2:11 as she lined up the second bounce off a thrown in from the left sideline and curled it under the crossbar.

“That was just a good shot,” Tessmann said.

At 3:51, a penalty just outside the goal box gave the Eagles a direct kick from 20 yards out and Plank again got it just under the crossbar and over the fingers of goalie Peyton Boelk.

The comeback started at 22:38. Shayla Radlinger burst through two Eagles to steal the ball near midfield and dribbled it into Pines territory. She sent a perfect through ball to Layla Petersen, who won her one-on-one with goal Isabella Chuckel to cut the deficit in half.

“We started actually making plays instead of just randomly passing it around,” Talyn Peterson said of the momentum switch.

“We were talking more and working as a team,” Rappe said. “The first goal definitely boosted us. Less stress.”

Radlinger was the catalyst in Medford’s second goal early in the second half. She emerged out of a pack of Eagles with the ball, carried it into the offensive end and put another through ball on Petersen’s foot. Chuckel came out and deflected Petersen’s shot but the ball went right to Metz for one of the easiest goals she’ll ever get.

“As Shayla was dribbling, she was communicating, you could see her pointing to Layla for her to get up and you can see Bayley start to move up. She made a great pass and Bayley was there to get the deflection.

Boelk preserved the tie at 60:40, getting her left hand on a breakaway shot by Pines’ leading scorer, Ryley Darr. Chloe Kapitz helped prevent a rebound and Boelk eventually smothered the ball. At 76:13, Rappe got the go-ahead goal.

Mallory Richter sent a long pass ahead and Rappe outran the defense to it. She and Chuckel met at the ball, but Rappe made enough contact with it to send it on net. Just to make sure, Rappe followed it to the goal line and tapped it in, which was a head’s up play as the official ruled the ball hadn’t rolled over the line yet as Pines tried to clear it. “The ball went through and I’m pretty good at getting the through ones,” Rappe said. “I just took it. The goalie tripped me, but then I got back up and went to put it back in. It was over the line, but I just had to make sure and kicked it back it in.” “It was a good win,” Tessmann said. “It puts us in a stronger position in conference as far as trying to stay in the top half. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out.”

After the Rhinelander matchup, Medford, now 4-8-1 overall, goes to Mosinee Tuesday for a 7 p.m. contest. The Raiders beat the Indians 8-0 back on April 29. Lakeland comes to town for a tough GNC matchup on May 22, also at 7 p.m.

Barron 5, Medford 2

Friday at Raider Field, Medford played well into the first 10 minutes of the second half and held a 2-1 lead, but the Barron Co-op tied it at 52:39 and that started a 40 run that clinched the Bears’ 5-2 nonconference win, spoiling Medford’s Senior Night.

Kasey Stauner put on an offensive show for the visitors by scoring four goals, but it was Kaafiyo Hassan, who put in the goahead goal at 58:32, helping the Golden Bears improve to 4-7-3 overall.

“Our first half was strong especially considering we had three players out, including two starters,” Tessmann said. “We had to moved some players around to positions they weren’t used to. They did well in those different positions, but you could tell they at times they weren’t used to it, especially in the second half.”

Medford had two good scoring chances early. Audrey Ruesch won possession of a ball in the left corner and passed to Radlinger for a hard shot that Barron goalie Tinlee Jeffrey saved at the 3:11 mark. Less than 30 seconds later Megan Schaefer, who got the Senior Night start but played sparingly, hit the crossbar with a 10-yard shot. The ball went straight down and then bounced out to Rappe, whose follow-up shot was saved by Jeffrey.

The Bears struck at 6:54. After stopping a push by Medford, they got the ball going the other way and Hassan’s through ball found Stauner for a breakaway chance and she didn’t miss. Stauner had another hard shot that hit the outside of the net at 9:30.

The Raiders countered with some good runs over a 12-minute span. A free kick by Amelia Pernsteiner turned into a pointblank shot by Caidyn Zenner that Jeffery deflected. At 23:29 the pressure finally paid off. Pernsteiner stole a pass on the defensive end. The ball got to Peterson, who fed it to Richter on the left side. Richter fought off a defender, centered it to Radlinger, who pushed it ahead and right to Petersen, who put it in to tie it.

“It was a pretty play,” Tessmann said. At 29:00 Boelk kept the game tied, racing out to stone Stauner as she had pulled ahead of Medford’s defense.

The Raiders took the lead on a Rappe goal at 46:01. Pernsteiner again started the play by gaining possession. Zenner’s long pass went to Radlinger, who made a one touch pass to Rappe, who went low left to right to beat Jeffrey.

But at 52:39, off a sideline throw-in, quick touches from Tabby Thompson and Hassan gave Stauner a tap-in goal to make it a 2-2 game. Barron transitioned from end to end and Hassan knocked in her left-footed shot from 10 yards out to break the tie.

Stauner’s perfectly placed 19-yard direct kick from the left sideline gave Barron a 4-2 lead at 70:27 and Stauner lobbed another perfect high shot from 25 yards out at 75:11 that glanced off Boelk’s fingertips and in.

Medford had 12 shots. Eight of those came in the first half with six of those eight being on goal. Barron took 22 shots. Ten were on goal with Boelk making five saves.

Rappe led Medford with four shots. Peterson, Radlinger and Zenner had two each.

“Audrey Ruesch played a great game,” Tessmann said. “She got more playing time on the wing and had some good runs and passes. Kodi was able to make some runs. She led us in shots and was able to use her speed.”

Medford’s Kameron Decker tries to flip the field with a long kick late in Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Barron Co-op. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS