This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – In what has become a trend lately, the Marshfield boys soccer team seems to lose it for a stretch that costs it a game.
On Tuesday, a span of 2:30 in the second half turned a hard-fought battle into a blowout loss for the Tigers.
Wisconsin Rapids pushed across three goals early in the second half to blow past Marshfield 5-0 in a Wisconsin Valley Conference match at Griese Park.
Rapids led 1-0 on a goal by Mitch Umnus with 2:21 left in the first half to grab the lead and the Raiders dominated the Tigers in the second half.
Cody Koch, Alex Hallinan and Umnus all scored between the 53:04 and 56:34 mark of the second half to give the Raiders a 4-0 lead.
Jake Panzer added the final goal for Rapids at the 66:32 mark, helping the Raiders (10-3 overall) 5-1 in WVC play and stay in a tie for the lead in the conference standings. Marshfield falls to 4-7-2 overall and 2-4 in the Valley.
“That’s been our story – anywhere from two or three letdowns to 10 minutes of letdowns,” Marshfield coach Ron Todryk said. “We had them on the ropes for a while there. We were playing one heck of a game in the first half. We were controlling the tempo … we just have our moments and the other team takes advantage of it.”
Marshfield’s scoring chances were few and far between. The Tigers had a pair of shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, then didn’t have another for 43 minutes of game time. Rapids outshot Marshfield 12-4.
“We still haven’t developed the offense,” Todryk said. “They get up there and stand and wait for the ball instead of making something happen. We need to create our own opportunities and we’re not doing that. Until we start creating scoring opportunities, we’re going to be outshot 12-4 like we were tonight.”
Erik Holm had seven saves in goal for Marshfield, including two spectacular stops. Holm did the splits to stop a point-blank shot by Koch at the 35:50 mark of the first half and made a diving stop to rob Umnus of goal two minutes into the second half.
Marshfield hosts Wausau West on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Griese Park.
Raiders 5, Tigers 0
Wisconsin Rapids 1 4 – 5
Marshfield 0 0 – 0
First half: 1. WR, Mitch Umnus (Seth Surendonk assist), 37:39.
Second half: 2. WR, Cody Koch (penalty kick), 53:04; 3. WR, Alex Hallinan (Koch), 54:05; 4. WR, Umnus (Adam North), 56:34; 5. WR, Panzer (Hallinan), 66:32.
Shots on goal: Wisconsin Rapids 12, Marshfield 4.
Saves: WR, Matt Stoltz 4; M, Erik Holm 7, Matt Brown 0.
Records: WR 10-3, 5-1 Wisconsin Valley; Marshfield 4-7-2, 2-4 Wisconsin Valley.