The River Falls Wildcats girls’ soccer team went 3-0-1 last week, beating the Menomonie Mustangs 6-0 on Tuesday, tying the New Richmond Tigers 1-1 on Thursday, beating Winneconne 4-2 on Friday and finally beating Pulaski 1-0 on Saturday.

It was a busy week of futbol for the Wildcats this time out. After starting the season a little peculiarly by winning two, then losing two and then tying two, River Falls has been on a roll. They’ve won five of their last six, with just the one tie to break things up.

Currently, they are deadlocked with Hudson in second place with identical 4-1-1 records, with the only difference being River Falls has a slightly better point differential, but the team to beat in the conference this year is New Richmond.

Currently in first place, the game against the Tigers was perhaps the most important one so far this season. It was an especially frustrating tie because not only did they need it to move into a first-place tie with the Tigers, it was a game in which they had the lead late in the game. With under 10:00 to play, River Falls was clinging to a 1-0 advantage after playing a tight game with New Richmond throughout, but the teams proved too evenly matched, and the tying goal would come across with the end of the game coming shortly thereafter.

Head Coach Charles Conley says he thinks they should have beaten the Tigers, and the whole team knows this.

“We had enough opportunities to put the game away early and we did not finish,” Conley said. “I think they are motivated to prove that they are the top team in the conference this year. It will take some work, however, if we can take care of business on our end, we can clinch at least a share of the title in just over two weeks.”

As it is, the Wildcats sit a ½ game back in the BRC, and the girls have just two games left before the end of Big Rivers play. Neither of those are against New Richmond, however, so their path to another conference championship isn’t a clear one. As they are not in control of their own destiny, the Wildcats will need to focus on the task in front of them and hope that one of the Tigers’ last two opponents, the fourth-place 3-2-2 Eau Claire North or the sixth-place 3-3 Superior Spartans, can hand the Tigers their first loss of the year.

Of course, a Big Rivers Conference championship is always nice, and the team wants that, but the real goal is getting back to Milwaukee, the site of the state tournament.

Coach Conley is in his 14^th season as head coach, and the Wildcats program has been prolific under his leadership. Since his first year in 2010, the Wildcats have been wildly successful, boasting an overall win loss record of 175-56-29 to go along with three conference titles, most recently in 2022.

They have earned nine straight regional championships and have won it 13 out of the past 14 seasons overall. They have also appeared in 10 of the last 13 section final games, but they haven’t been to state since 2018, something Conley hopes to do this year.

“Lillia Gray and Elliott Bell have been the two big goal scorers as of late and helped us to some big wins. Collectively, as a defense we have played extremely well. We had a streak of almost five games of not giving up any goals and very few shots,” Conley said. “We are really determined to get over the hump this year and get back to Milwaukee. We have some things to accomplish prior to the postseason, and after that, we will go from there.”

River Falls’ last week of conference play kicks off on Tuesday when they will host Rice Lake, and it finishes on Thursday which currently projects as a showdown for second place when they travel to Hudson to play the Raiders. Their last game of the regular season is of the non-conference variety, and that will take place at home on Saturday at noon.