The resilient Wildcat girls’ soccer team is taking its game to the biggest stage in the state, as they defeated Onalaska by a 1-0 margin Saturday afternoon to punch their ticket to the WIAA Division 2 State Tournament.

River Falls, the fourth seed in the tournament, plays top-seeded and defending state champion Oregon in the opening game at 11 a.m. Friday, June 14 at Southeast Sales Powersports Stadium at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee. Game two pits No. 2 Cedarburg against No. 3 Whitefish Bay. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 4:35 p.m.

It’s River Falls’ first trip to state since 2018 and their third overall. The 2011 and 2018 visits ended with semifinal losses.

River Falls has built one of the elite soccer programs in northwest Wisconsin. The team has won 10 straight WIAA regional championships and have been in four consecutive sectional final games.

“We’re starting to collect some hardware and kind of set an expectation for kids coming in where we want to be at the end of every season,” said Wildcat coach Charles Conley. “We have our work cut out for us, but we’re going to fight, that’s for sure.”

Onalaska came into the sectional final with a 15-0-3 record, including a 1-0 victory over the Wildcats in early April. The Hilltoppers won the Mississippi Valley Conference.

Conley said he thought they could do some things offensively to keep the Hilltoppers on defense.

That plan looked to be working, when Kraly Walker scored about 14 minutes in to give the Wildcats the lead and what turned out to be the margin of victory. Kaelin Jalowitz passed to Walker, whose shot eluded the diving Hilltopper goalie.

“It was at about 14-1/2 minutes, and we had over 65 minutes to play it out,” said Conley. “We didn’t want to get real defensive. We wanted to continue to play the way we play, because we though we matched up really well with Onalaska, and we thought that our style would beat them. We thought we could make it more comfortable at 2 or 3-0, but we got a little defensive. We were a little panicky there at times. At half, we reassured the girls that they’ve got to score to beat us, and we have such a great defense. It’s going to be hard for them to get one if we just stay composed and play on it.”

The Wildcat defense did the work. The celebration started as a free kick by Onalaska was knocked away by River Falls goalie Neva Espanet in the waning moments.

Conley said this year’s team is special.

“Nobody really expected that we would get to this point. Deep down, we all had a belief, and we did. We’ve been doing book studies on leadership and team growth and character since about Christmas time. Once a week, 6 or 6:30 in the morning, and then we culminate that in the preseason. We made this poster where every girl had to come up with one word that detailed our mission for the season. One of the words that came up was Milwaukee, state. I think as a group, we’ve all believed we could get there. We’ve grown together as a group, and this group of seniors has been in four straight section title games, so their experience tells them what to expect, and they found a way.”

For the first time, the team has five captains, all seniors: Lillia Gray, Emily Van Ausdal, Bell Skow, Kraly Walker and Maggie Johnson.

The sectional semifinal game against New Richmond was another epic battle between the top two teams in the Big Rivers Conference.

The teams had tied twice this year, 1-1, and River Falls beat them last year in the sectional semifinal on a shootout after 100 scoreless minutes of play.

The first half was scoreless. Just minutes into the second half, a red card was called on a New Richmond player, and the Tigers were down a player the rest of the way. Walker was breaking away from a defender when she was knocked down from behind.

The Tigers scored first. River Falls tied the score with 5:37 left. Gray’s shot was deflected, and Olivia Doerre was there to kick it in the goal.

In overtime, the Tigers scored, and Doerre answered again to tie the game, 2-2. About a minute later, Addison Lemke scored the go-ahead goal.

Conley is hoping his team can make a name for itself at state.

“Our girls are ecstatic to be going to state, but we’re not just happy to be there. We’re going to compete. Our girls play on club teams, and they play in really good tournaments. We just equate it to that situation. You’ve all been here before, just on a different level. It’s just about going out there and playing good soccer,” he said.