MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER - Raiders rout Antigo again, aren’t quite able to shut out T-Birds

MEDFORD GIRLS SOCCER

Antigo held the Medford Raiders to half as many goals in the teams’ second Great Northern Conference girls soccer meeting of the season, but the result was still a shortened game Tuesday as Medford completed league play with an 8-0 rout at Raider Field.

The Raiders got off 35 shots, putting 17 of them on goal. It took awhile, however, for them to get those shots past Antigo goal keeper Lexi Pennington, who did well aggressively coming out from the net and challenging Medford’s attacks. She kept the Red Robins relatively close at 3-0 through the first half.

But the Raiders began placing their shots better in the second half and ended the game via the mercy rule at 64:47 when Shayla Radlinger got her second goal of the second half off an assist from Amelia Pernsteiner.

Kodi Rappe also scored twice for the Raiders, who finished 5-5 in the GNC, good for a third-place tie with Northland Pines, who edged Mosinee 1-0 Tuesday. The GNC title will be decided tonight, Thursday, when Lakeland (8-1) visits Rhinelander (9-0).

“It took us a little bit to get going,” Medford head coach Tanya Tessmann said of Tuesday’s win. In the first meeting on May 6, Medford demolished Antigo 16-0 “There was a lot of bunching in the beginning for both teams. Later we seemed to spread out and started talking a little more. When one team tends to crowd, the other team seems to follow. Antigo is always good at trying to trap us for offsides, which was good. That’s something we have to learn and pay attention to.”

Just 3:08 in, Radlinger pushed a short pass to Rappe, who did the rest, dribbling 25 yards to get a one-on-one with Pennington. One extra touch got the ball past Pennington and Rappe tapped it in for the game’s first goal. The Raiders got quick back-to-back goals at 27:01 and 29:18. Layla Petersen got the first of those as Radlinger carried the ball into scoring position from the right sideline and pushed a perfect touch pass to Petersen. Medford’s senior defensive standout Talyn Peterson gained control of a loose ball, carried it in for a one-on-one with Pennington and won it for the second.

From there, Medford had plenty of chances but didn’t convert, keeping it 3-0.

“We had a lot of one-on-ones with their goalie and she did a good job of coming out,” Tessmann said. “It was a good opportunity to reinforce with the girls that we need to be picking up our heads and thinking about where they want to shoot or to get that touch or move.”

Rappe started the second-half scoring, getting on a runout from the left side and then finessing a pass to Radlinger for the goal at 42:21. Rappe was first to an Antigo goal kick and scored off it unassisted at 46:58. Just 22 seconds later, Rappe sent a through ball to Megan Schaefer who connected on a high shot from 13 yards out to make it 6-0. At 53:39, Peterson sent a long pass up the right sideline to Mallory Richter, who tucked a right-toleft shot inside the far post.

Radlinger got off nine shots, including five on goal. Schaefer took eight shots, including three on goal. Rappe had five shots and Peterson had four.

Medford, now 6-10-1 overall, will finish its regular-season schedule tonight, Thursday, when it hosts 8-11 Ashland at 7 p.m. The Oredockers are the third seed in the WIAA Division 3 sectional halfbracket.

Medford is the fifth seed and will travel to fourth-seeded Waupaca (5-6-2) for a June 5 regional semifinal that starts at 7 p.m. The Comets beat Medford 3-1 in an early-season matchup on April 10 and knocked the Raiders out of the tournament last year with a shootout win.

T-Birds 1, Raiders 0

The Raiders did the best they could to play spoiler Thursday, but Lakeland got a goal from Cale Quade at 75:19 to break a scoreless tie and keep its chance of tying Rhinelander for the GNC title with a 1-0 win at Raider Field.

Quade’s goal was lofted from about 35 yards out and kept carrying until it drove Medford goal keeper Peyton Boelk into the net and she was unable to stop it from dropping over her hands and under the crossbar.

Before then, much of the action took place in the middle of the field with neither team collecting many open opportunities to score. Lakeland, however, did start did create pressure in the last 10 minutes and paid it off with the only goal of the game.

“I was really proud of how we played,” Tessmann said. “It’s been a long week with three conference games, finals and all that’s going on with graduation. The girls played hard. I was really happy with how we did in the middle. All of our seniors, Talyn Peterson, Amelia Pernsteiner and Megan Schaefer and even Shayla Radlinger checked back in there at times and got into the mix. They did so well. Caidyn Zenner did her job. She subbed into a couple of different positions. Our back line really held. They communicated and were able to keep in line. We had Chloe Kapitz, Greta Seidel, Kameron Decker and Tana Rappe back there.”

Lakeland outshot Medford 14-4 with Boelk making seven saves of the eight shots the T-Birds put on goal. All four of Medford’s shots were on goal, including a last-ditch attempt with 20 seconds left when a deflected ball rolled right to Radlinger for an uncontested boot from 15 yards out, but Lakeland keeper Ava Evenhouse was in the right spot to secure the save.

Boelk saved a direct kick by Lakeland in the opening moments. Peterson got a direct kick on Evenhouse just over 12 minutes in. Boelk’s biggest save came at the 70-minute mark when she came out and challenged T-Bird Bobbi Lee on a breakaway chance. She smothered Lee’s shot. Quade’s game winner came after a Medford goal kick. The ball found its way to Lee, who tapped a back pass to the open Quade, who made the perfect kick.

“I know the girls were disappointed at the end,” Tessmann said. “But I told them they had nothing to hang their heads over. They played and nearly beat the second seed in our sectional. I think we’re in a good place going into next week. We’ll take a little break and get ready for Antigo and Ashland.”

Medford won the JV game 2-0 with goals from Sophie Sperl and Elyn Mabie.

Medford’s Kodi Rappe gets a free run toward the goal early in Tuesday’s second half and winds up with an assist, setting up Shayla Radlinger for the score at point-blank range. The goal put Medford up 4-0. The Raiders went on to beat Antigo 8-0 to finish 5-5 in the GNC. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS