RIVER FALLS — It took the River Falls boys soccer team much of the season to really start to take off, but as players continue to return from injury, the Wildcats are moving in the right direction.

In a two-match week, the Wildcats beat a Rice Lake team that is fighting for a spot in the top half of the Big Rivers Conference 3-0.

“We’re finally back to about as close as we can get to a full, healthy roster,” Head Coach Adam Koger said. “It makes a big difference having all players available, and things really came together nicely in that Rice Lake game, being our first shutout of the year.”

Senior captain Wyatt Nelson scored two of the goals, and another was scored as a follow-up to one of his shots. Koger called Nelson a “dynamic gamebreaker,” and he and fellow senior captain Dominic Hietala have been great leaders on and off the pitch.

“The adversity, it can pull you apart or it can pull you together. My hope is that we can lean on that for this little stretch run of 2-3 weeks before we get to the playoffs,” Koger said. “When the playoffs get here, hopefully we can do something similar to what we did last year in the playoffs.”

The playoff run referred to by Koger in 2024 included wins over Wausau East, New Richmond, and Marshfield to get all the way to the Sectional Final.

Koger credited the captains with maintaining that strong mentality all year long, as it can be contagious. They are desiring improved results, but those will only come if they keep improving and hold strong mentally.

Over the weekend against Marshfield, River Falls lost 2-0. Both teams had about an equal share of opportunities to score, Marshfield just made them count.

“Testament to the defense improving, and we’ll continue to push to find ways to score goals,” Koger said about the solid defensive week.

Where the team can still improve is by doing the little things to simplify decision making. Passing with the correct foot to set up a teammate, receiving the ball away from pressure and opening bodies to the field to better scan the situations are a few of those examples.

“We’re talking a lot about habits,” Koger said. “All those things so that in the end we have more time to make decisions so that the majority of our decisions are good ones versus the opposite.

“We’re going in the right direction. The message has been the same all year: Just get a little bit better each practice and each game, and we’ve done that,” Koger said.