By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls girls’ soccer team had its season come to an end on Saturday, June 11, in a neutral site WIAA Division 2 Sectional Final game against Sauk Prairie, a 3-1 loss for the Wildcats that ended one of the program’s best seasons since 2011.

Getting to the sectional final was no guarantee. River Falls first had to win a home game on Thursday, June 9, against a tough Onalaska Hilltoppers team. River Falls entered the sectional semifinal with a 17-2-2 overall record, compared to Onalaska’s 12-8-2 record.

The Wildcats played in front of a lively home crowd and wasted no time giving the fans something to cheer about. In the13th minute of action, senior forward Lexi Szymanski broke free, had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and found the back of the net to take a 10 lead.

Then in the 32nd minute, sophomore midfielder Lillia Gray got past the defense, received a pass and slipped one past the goalkeeper to take a 2-0 Wildcat lead. Scoring action subsided for the remainder of the first half.

River Falls took a 2-0 lead into the halftime intermission. Wildcats head coach Charles Conley spoke about the first half and what he saw from his team.

“I didn’t think we had our best stuff today in the first half, and that’s saying something when you go into the half with a 2-0 lead,” Conley said. “I don’t think we played with that urgency and we didn’t convert on as many opportunities as we would have liked.

While Conley was by no means critical of his team, he did indicate that they could play better and put the game away early in the second half. He stated that the first goal coming out of the half – for either team – was going to be critical for the program that would eventually advance.

“Coming out of the half, I knew that it was going to be about who scored that first goal,” Conley said. “If they did, we were going to have a game. If we did, they were going to be thinking about what they were going to eat on the way home.”

In the fifth minute of the second half, senior Wildcat goalkeeper Riley Nesbitt was in a one-on-one situation. That’s when an Onalaska forward fired a shot at the top shelf. Nesbitt fully extended and was able to deflect the ball out of bounds and preserve the 2-0 advantage.

Less than one minute later, River Falls was on the attack offensively, after an errant shot on goal, sophomore forward Kraly Walker crashed the net and scored a put-back goal to give River Falls a 3-0 advantage.

If Conley’s theory was indeed true, Onalaska was likely deciding where to eat dinner moments after Walker’s putback goal gave River Falls the three-goal lead. In the 34th minute of the second half, senior forward Lindsey Szymanski scored a top-shelf goal from the right side of the field to put the game on ice and

See RF SOCCER, Page B-4

(From left): The River Falls girls’ soccer team seniors Allison Rixmann, Olivia Nelson, Lindsey Szymanski, Lexi Szymanski, Riley Nesbitt, Olivia Usgaard, Emma Creen and Brooke Meyer wear the Wildcats’ uniform one more time after the sectional final against Sauk Prairie on Saturday, June 11.Photo courtesy of Tania Gray