Between a busy week of games, and locations being changed due to weather, the Northland Pines girls soccer team picked up a 5-0 win over Three Lakes-Phelps at Rhinelander High School between a few other games last week.
That included a 1-1 draw April 8 against Barron Co-op and another game at Rhinelander High School against Assumption last Saturday afternoon.
Junior Grace Plank scored a trio of goals for the Eagles in the nonconference win.
“Our defense played great with its first shut out of the year,” said head coach Mark Pinski after the win.
Pines jumped out to a 4-0 lead at halftime before scoring another goal in the second half.
As much as Pines controlled much of the game on the scoreboard, the Eagles still had to face a few chances by the Bluejays. Keeper Isabella Chuckel eventually stopped a second-half breakaway by TL-P after a diving effort kept points off the board.
Sydney Sarkauskas scored the other goal for the Eagles before Three Lakes scored their own goal after a header by sophomore Ava Gaetano bounced off a defender and into the net.
The coaching staff also made some substitutions throughout the afternoon, gaining a good look at the team’s depth. Pinski saw some good things come from that opportunity.
“Leah Verkuilen played great, coming off the bench, with some quality decision making and ability to keep possession,” mentioned Pinski.
Earlier in the week, the Eagles got their first action of the season against another team after some postponements due to winter weather. Pines traveled to Cumberland High School April 8 to face the Barron co-op in a nonconference battle.
The visiting Eagles trailed in the first after a deep ball through the middle of the defense was hard to defend and ended in a 1-0 deficit.
“We had some jitters for the first ten minutes, but ended up playing a very solid game. This was our first time this year stepping outside, and our first game,” stated Pinski. “I’m very happy with the way the girls played. They were committed from the first whistle to keeping possession of the ball and being unselfish.”
Plank scored the equalizer in the second half for Northland Pines, which would end up being her first of the season and fourth overall so far in the 2025 campaign.
“From a coaching standpoint, we spent much of the game figuring out which girls fit into which positions,” explained Pinski. “This is a new team for both Lexi (assistant coach) and me, so there was definitely a quick learning curve, considering we haven’t even seen them practice outside yet.”
The back line of defenders held up well after giving up the first-half goal, especially Chuckel between the posts. The junior keeper played a solid game with nine saves.
The last game of the week for the Eagles was a third nonconference game as the Royals of Assumption came to the North Woods and faced the Eagles in what was a 2-0 win for the Royals.
Pines fell to 1-1-1 on the season after the weekend loss and looked ahead to a nonconference game at Iron Mountain this past Tuesday before opening up Great Northern Conference play at home versus Medford this Thursday, April 17, at 4:30 p.m. It will also host Three Lakes-Phelps at Northland Pines on Tuesday, April 22, for a 5 p.m. kickoff.
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