Last year, the Rhinelander High School girls soccer team needed a penalty kick shootout to advance to the WIAA sectionals. A repeat of last year’s dramatics was never a worry Saturday.
Shawano was the latest victim of Rhinelander’s offensive juggernaut as the Hawks’ season came to an end with a 10-2 loss on the road Saturday in a WIAA Division 2 regional final. It was the third straight regional title for the Hodags.
Alayna Franson, Sydney Zettler and Gabbe Millot all scored hat tricks for the Hodags (19-3-2), who turned a 1-1 game into a blowout with seven unanswered goals.
Megan Klitzke and Sarah Dickmann scored for Shawano (9-10-2). Morgan Klitzke and Louisa Keenan each recorded assists.
Saturday’s match evolved into a rout by the half-hour mark. Gabbe Millot lifted the lid on the scoring in the fourth minute, finishing a string of laser-like passes. Millot’s first shot was denied, but she put home her own rebound.
Shawano squared the match in the 16th minute as junior Morgan Klitzke sent an attempt that Rhinelander keeper Sarah Babcock tired to grab, only to watch it slip out of her grasp. Megan Klitzke was there to track down the loose ball and tap it into the empty net.
It was the first goal Rhinelander had surrendered since a 2-2 draw May 21 at Lakeland. If anything, it just made the Hodags more determined.
In the 18th minute, Franson tracked down the ball, dribbled in on goal and beat keeper Carlie Hinnefeld, who had 15 saves. Millot and Franson hooked up on nearly an identical play in the 22nd minute. Then, in the 28th minute, Millot sent a cross to Franson, who was unmarked in the left side of the box. Franson finished from 15 yards to make it 4-1.
Later in the first half, Millot sent a free kick from about 50 yards out to the top of the 18-yard box for Zettler, who took two touches past the defense and scored easily. Four minutes later on a free kick from 60 yards out, Millot found Zettler again. This time Zettler gathered a deflection off defender Colleen McFarlane to get behind the defense and tapped a shot past Hinnefeld.
Zettler, who has seven goals in two playoff games, finished her hat trick two minutes into the second half, scoring from 15 yards off.
Millot made it 8-1 in the 52nd minute and finished her hat trick in the 68th. Sturzl added a goal for the Hodags in the 79th minute.
Though the final score was lopsided, Shawano did test the Hodag defense on occasion, tallying 16 shots. The Hawks’ second goal came in the 62nd minute as Dickmann rainbowed a ball from 25 yards that went just under the crossbar and over Babcock’s hands.
The 16 shots were the most the Hodags’ defense has faced for the better part of a month.
“They were tested,” Rhinelander coach Dan Millot said of his defense. “Realistically, that score should have been 10-0, and you’ve got to give Shawano credit for putting shots on goal and following up on shots.”
