For the Antigo Times

Coming off an exciting Saturday of home tournament play, the Robins boys varsity soccer team hosted visiting Amherst on Tuesday evening at Listle Field at Antigo High School. The Robins opened scoring very early with a goal from sophomore Noah Samolinski at about 5 minutes into the match. Samolinski was assisted by junior Tanner Stueck, who’d had great success over the weekend recording a hat trick versus Peshtigo.

20 minutes into the first half, Antigo almost scored with some excellent play from freshman Zander Aros and a shot into the net from Doug Dittel, but unfortunately there was an offside violation called negating that goal. Play remained Robin dominated in the first half, with numerous shots on goal from Dittel, Stueck, and freshman Brody Bunnell. Luis Hernandez again started at goalkeeper for Antigo, recording 8 saves in the first half.

In second half play Amherst started strong, recording more shots on goal in the second half, with Hernandez marking 12 more saves by the end of the match. At 60 minutes in, Samolinski again found the back of the net, assisted by Aros. With the score now at 2-0 in Antigo’s favor, the Robins continued to play strong defense, but struggled at the 68 and 69 minute marks, allowing two quick goals. The first ricocheting off the shoulder of Antigo keeper Hernandez, and the second ricocheting off the inside of the right goal post.

With 20 minutes remaining and the score tied 2-2, the Robins tried to muster more energy to answer with another goal for the lead. Antigo’s Aros, Samolinski, junior Zach Reineke, and many others recorded numerous shots on goal, but none were successful, with the match officially ending in a tie at 2-2.

Varsity Coach Ben Wilhelm noted “This was the most exciting match we’ve seen yet this season. It was great to watch our guys live up to their potential with some excellent play. We also learned some lessons and saw some play that wasn’t up to our standards. So we’ll be looking to work on that and continue to improve for our remaining 8 matches we have left this season. We’re also looking forward to a rematch against Amherst next Monday.”