Wildcats preparing for its most important postseason run in a decade

By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls High School girls’ soccer team is

amid one of its best two week stretches in program history, which includes winning a Big Rivers Conference Champi onship on Thursday, May 26, and a WIAA Division 2 Re

gional Championship on Satur day, June 4.

The Wildcats’ impressive two week run has essentially put a stamp of authenticity on what was already shaping up to be one of the best seasons in program history. With the two aforementioned wins, River Falls improved to 17 2 2 for the season and is well on its way to making a run at a state championship.

Before the postseason began, River Falls had a road game against Eau Claire Me morial to decide the 2022 Big Rivers Conference champion. The Old Abes of Memorial have historically been – at least for the last 12 years – the pre mier program in the BRC. This season, River Falls took it to the Old Abes with a 5 2 victory to hoist the conference cham pionship on the road against Memorial. River Falls head coach Charles Conley spoke about winning it against that school.

“It felt absolutely great (to win it) and even better to do it on Eau Claire Memorial’s field,” Conley said. “It had been about a decade since we had beaten that team, many ties, and to do it convincingly felt great. So proud of these girls, this class has been through so much missing a year with COVID, a shortened season last year, it’s been an in

teresting career for these sen iors.”

This River Falls group, which includes Lindsey and Lexi Szymanski, two twin for wards that have played for River Falls since they were kids, has been considered one of the most talented snapshots in program history. Conley spoke a bit about their ex pected success and talent.

“This group has been lauded as an amazing and tal ented team, but haven’t gotten to the top until now, it feels good to get the title back,” Conley said. “We now have four (conference titles) in the last 12 seasons, second only to Memorial’s seven and ahead of Hudson’s two. We are pretty proud of that.”

In that 5 2 victory against the Old Abes, the usual stars were on full display for the Wildcats. Lindsey Szymanski had a hat trick in that game by scoring three goals, senior midfielder Liv Nelson had a goal and sophomore Kraly Walked also had a goal.

After securing the confer ence title, the Wildcats jumped straight into the WIAA Divi sion 2 girls’ playoff bracket with a regional semi final game at home against Menomonie. The Wildcats quickly took care of business with a 10 0 shutout victory. In that game, Lindsey Szymanski, Lexi Szymanski and Walker all had two goals. Junior Abigail Morning, sophomore Alli Lassi, sophomore Emma Cer nohous and Nelson all had a goal in the victory.

The Wildcats continued to roll with a D2 Regional Cham pionship victory against New Richmond at home on Satur day, June 4, a game that River Falls won 4 0. Conley spoke about winning the regional title and how it's been almost an ex

pectation at River Falls.

“It’s an honor to win the re gional championship and it isn’t easy to do at all,” Conley said. “However, the plaque we really want is the sectional championship. It’s almost an expectation every year that we bring home the regional cham pionship. The girls had a chance to enjoy the win over the weekend, now we turn our attention to the next game on Thursday.”

Conley stated that the first half against New Richmond didn’t exactly go according to plan. He noted that they played hard and that anybody is capa ble of winning at this point in the year.

“The first half against New Richmond was eye opening for us in that we now under stand we will get everyone’s best at this time of the year,” Conley said. “This team will go as far as they like as long as they continue to play at a high level. This group has what it takes to get to Milwaukee, but we need to stay focused, play smart, and continue to play hard.”

At this time of the year, teams are going to be schem ing specifically to shut down the Wildcats’ strengths, which for the 2022 season have been the dominance of the forwards and offensive attack with the Szymanski twins and Walker as a valuable third attacker.

“Even if things don’t go our way, we need to stay positive and stick together,” Conley said. “We have to understand that teams are going to scheme to try and stop us and we will need to be ready for them, find ways to work around it and make sure we are still looking to be dangerous.”

The Wildcats have turned the 2022 season into one of destiny. Throughout the year, the Wildcats have accom plished every goal that they set out to reach before the season began. Conley spoke about those goals and how many they have left.

“We had four goals coming into the season, two down, two to go,” Conley said. “We ac complished the conference championship. We rolled and grabbed the regional champi onship. The next step will be to beat Onalaska and advance to Saturday, then earn our third sectional championship.”

The final goal is the greatest of them all – winning a state championship in Milwaukee. Getting to sectionals is a point in the year at which most coaches are happy – regardless of how the season ends. The competition level at sectionals and beyond is the most elite in the state.

“At this time, however the season ends, I couldn’t be more proud of how this team has played and what they’ve accomplished. I feel that there is more in store for this group, but I’m still pretty proud.”

The resume for this iteration of the Wildcat girls’ soccer team already stacks up against any team in program history. After starting the season 0 2 1, River Falls bounced back to win 17 of its next 18 games, which included a tie against Chippewa Falls on May 12.

River Falls has had a lot of good teams throughout the years, even some great teams, but only one other team, the 2011 Wildcats, has had a run like this 2022 campaign. In that 2011 season, River Falls went 20 1 1, with the only loss coming in the first round of the state tournament against Kim

berly.

“Regardless of what hap pens from here on out, I am very proud of what this team has done in 2022,” Conley said. “It will be a tough week, but I think our girls are up for it and will be ready for Thurs day.”

On Thursday, June 9, River Falls will host Onalaska in the sectional semi final at the River Falls High School. That game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

The 2022 River Falls High School girls’ soccer team celebrates with the WIAA Division 2 Regional Championship trophy after winning the title by defeating New Richmond 40 at home on Saturday, June 4.Photo courtesy of Tania Gray