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MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The Marshfield girls soccer team is closing in on becoming an elite team in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, but aren’t quite there yet.
Morgan Elzinga scored at the 23:31 mark of the second half to break a tie and lift Wisconsin Rapids to a 2-1 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night.
The loss is the third straight for Marshfield, all to the top three teams in the conference, and its second straight by one goal. The Tigers fall to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the WVC after playing all six of their conference games on the road during the first half of the season. Rapids improves to 6-5-1 and 4-1 in conference play.
“We just cannot win the close games so far as the Valley powers are within reach but we play at a level that is not quite good enough to beat them,” Marshfield coach Steve Lindner said. “As assistant coach Jeff Molter said after the game, as much as the coaches want the win, the team needs to pick it up a little more and find a way to push themselves harder in practice and at games. We are close but we definitely are not satisfied with the 1st half of the season at 3-3 in conference play.”
Rapids took a 1-0 lead into halftime before Tigers freshman Darian Molter netted her sixth conference goal on a free kick to tie the game at 1-1 10:24 into the second half.
Elzinga’s goal proved to be the game-winner as Marshfield couldn’t get one past Rapids goalie Liz Schulze over the final 17 minutes, who finished with three saves.
“We again had moments of brilliance, but just not enough nor often enough to catch a win vs. the meat of the conference,” Lindner said. “We had some nice passing from Emily Wolfe and Emily Haws on a few occasions, but to be honest, we expect more from this team. We know we have the talent, but the drive needs to come from within and that we cannot teach.”
Marshfield begins its second half of the conference season Thursday against Wausau West at 5 p.m. at Griese Park. The game is the first of six straight home Valley games over the next three weeks.