For the Antigo Times

On Tuesday evening, the Antigo Red Robins boys soccer teams traveled to Medford for varsity and junior varsity matches.

“We had some unfortunate defensive lapses where we let in quite a few goals in a short amount of time,” JV coach Mike Barske commented on his match “But still we managed to score a number of our own well earned goals. We saw some great goals, but it seemed that Medford was able to almost immediately answer after many of them and we just couldn’t pull ahead. We’ve seen some great improvement this season on our JV squad with improved communication and teamwork, but tonight we weren’t as good as we have been.”

Goals for Antigo came from freshman Zander Aros with three, junior Ryan Fay with two, and sophomore Jacob Peloquin with one. JV closed their match in a 10-6 loss.

Antigo varsity hoped for a better result than the last time meeting Medford, which was a 11-5 loss, but Medford unfortunately blanked Antigo 0-8.

Antigo senior Ty Husnick took the start in net for Antigo, allowing five goals in the first half but saving 12.

Coach Ben Wilhelm noted play in the first half, saying, “We started out playing at about 75% and Medford met our pace. Even so, Medford held possession for most of the first half, about 60/40, and we struggled to work together well as a team.”

Medford’s first half goals came at 24, 30, 33, 40, and 44 minutes. In the first half Antigo was unable to score, and recorded a half dozen shots but no official shots on goal.

In second half action, Antigo junior Luis Hernandez took over goalkeeper duties, with Husnick swapping to an offensive position where Hernandez had been. Possession in the second half was more even and perhaps a little in the Robins favor. Hernandez recorded 10 saves, showing Medford’s fewer shots, but still allowed three second half goals.

Offensively for Antigo, juniors Zach Reineke and Cole Sowinski led the way. Antigo recorded an additional half dozen shots, and this time another half dozen shots on goal. Unfortunately, the Robins were unable to find the back of the net, resulting in a final score of 8-0.

The Robins are in the final weeks of their season, facing conference opponent Lakeland next, with concurrent Varsity and JV matches at home on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.