RIVER FALLS — Girls soccer in River Falls has established itself as a top team in recent years, making many Sectional final games and State appearances in 2018 and 2024. Now, the Wildcats are looking to take the next step and etch their names into the history books.

“We’ve talked to the girls about that very thing,” Head Coach Charles Conley said. “We’ve been to a few section finals, we’ve won one, two recently, I guess, if you count 2018, but we still don’t have that State Tournament win, we still don’t have the back-to-back section wins. It started in the offseason, what can we do as a program to take that next step?”

Returning all three starters on the front line, Conley expects the offense to not miss a beat from a year ago. Defensively, Maggie Johnson and Emily Van Ausdal both graduated last season. The two were the team’s representatives at the senior all-star game a year ago, so the team will have its work cut out to replace them.

“We’ll be very, very strong offensively, and we’re extremely athletic,” Conley said. “It’s always tough to replace two all-State center backs.”

There is a lot of defensive talent pushing to earn a spot in the lineup. Conley said it will be about getting some experience in the early games so some of the younger players get a feel for the varsity game.

The underclassmen are in good hands, with leadership that expands far beyond the captains. Conley said the squad is unique in that it has a combination of vocal leaders and players who lead by example.

“We have an interesting group in that it’s not that we’re looking at one or two people, we have a pretty good group of kids,” Conley said.

After an April 3 match at Baldwin-Woodville, River Falls plays three straight days. An April 10 match hosting Chippewa Falls, April 11 at Onalaska and April 12 at La Crosse Central are sure to give River Falls a taste of what to expect on the season. Chippewa Falls is a conference opponent and the other two are Sectional foes.

“Give us those tough tests early and we can go into those and talk about how meaningful those section games are, but also not put too much pressure on them,” Conley said. “This is a good test for us, good experience for us. It’s good to get these tough games out of the way early, but we can still relax and try to play good soccer.”

Conley said these games do not make or break the season, citing the schedule from a year ago where the Wildcats lost 1-0 to Onalaska in the regular season and turned around to beat them 1-0 with a trip to State on the line.

“We’ll be excited to get out there and try to establish some consistency on offense, because that’s where the most experience is,” Conley said. “We’re not taking Baldwin lightly, but hopefully we can get comfortable early in the game and get some of our newer players a few minutes.”