RIVER FALLS — River Falls soccer had a great night Thursday, getting the team’s first goal of the season and eventually the first win of the season 1-0 over Osceola. With seven losses and a draw, the start of the season has not gone how the Wildcats wanted, but the improvements are starting to show through entering the back half of the year.

That first goal was a beauty, as an Osceola mistouch leaked to junior captain Gradyn French. Despite French being left-footed, he let one fly with the right foot, floating into the left side of the net for a first half goal.

“I see the ball coming in on my right foot. I just let it fly with my right foot cause I’m left-footed and just tried to put it on frame, and it went where I wanted,” French said.

It was not just the one goal, though; the Wildcat offense started to look comfortable once they broke through for the first time. The team took nine shots, five of them being on target.

“We’ve felt very snakebitten, that being our first goal of the season. Hopefully, like in basketball, seeing that first one go in, hopefully it opens us up a little bit just to play more free. After so many games they start to really force it and maybe not always take the best shots, so hopefully now it comes a little bit more naturally,” Head Coach Adam Koger said.

Sophomore Holt Brunkhorst absolutely roped a shot that went off the crossbar, senior Devon Fox had a couple of chances down field, James Treichel had two shots on net and Ben Huttemier added another. While French’s shot was the only one to reach the back of the net, each shot on net felt like weight lifted off the team’s shoulders. The Wildcats have seen what they look like when they are consistently threatening on the attack, and the goal now is to keep that in mind moving forward.

“It was a good first half and a way better second half. I think that we were moving the ball much better in the second half rather than the first half,” French said. “Throughout the second half we just kept the intensity up. The bench was hyped. Everybody was hyped.”

There is still about a month of regular season soccer remaining, with River Falls looking to continue to build and start to string together wins. The Wildcats also lost their first nine games of the season in 2025, finding seven wins in the back half of the year and making a run to Sectionals. Many Wildcat starters this season are new to the team or new to the starting lineup since that run, but the same hunger is there.

“It’s been a tough go so far as far as the results go. We’ve had a great run of process, and that’s been the emphasis,” Koger said. “It was nice tonight for things to go the right way and for us to see the work be fulfilled.”

This Wildcat team is filled with a combination of underclassmen as well as student-athletes that do not have a ton of varsity experience, if any. Koger said it has been a rewarding experience seeing them start to gel. There are some upperclassmen that joined soccer from other sports, so they know the work and the processes that go into development.

“It’s been a rewarding group to coach because of their eagerness to learn,” Koger said. “They ask good questions and they want to learn, so there’s growth every day.”