It was youth night and it has been the biggest turn out in years. Thank you to the youth soccer players, parents and those that put it together. The turn out was the phenomenal! My junior captain Cody Vojta commented at the end of the game. “I wish we had a crowd like this every game. We play hard for our fans!” The support was notice and boys came out focused and possessed the ball for much of the game. First half was on the foot of Pines boys for most of it. We had a bunch of great scoring opportunities but could not find the back of the net. Half we talked about a few adjustments and we stated the only time Rhinelander would get shots of is when we let the ball hit the ground and lost 50/50 balls. We came out second have stringing multiple passes, possessing long periods of time and mounting attack after attack. The boys had a bunch of great looks but couldn’t convert. Late in the game a called advantage was given but Pines lost the ball, which should have brought play back to the original foul for a Pines free kick, but instead let the play move on and as a result Rhinelander receives a corner and their forward puts a head on the ball finding the back of the net. At this point the Pines team could have hung up their hats and take another loss, but they refused to give up with less than 3 minutes left they pushed and mounted attack after attack. Rhinelander bent but did not break the stayed composed and stole a victory out of our house. Hats off to the hodags and it hurts to know the better team tonight did not get the “w”. I am confident, however if we continue to play this way we will make a deep run late in the season. We just have to continue the upward improvement trend and to heal up and we will turn some heads. I am extremely proud of their effort.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
