ARCADIA — The Onalaska High School girls soccer team knew it would have its hands full in the attempt to find scoring opportunities against a River Falls team looking to win its second straight WIAA Division 2 sectional championship.
The Wildcats were bigger and more physical than the Hilltoppers, who were going to have to do just about everything right to qualify for their first state tournament.
River Falls didn’t give Onalaska the chance to do much of anything for 80 minutes Saturday afternoon and ended up celebrating a 3-0 victory in the middle of Cashen Field.
The Wildcats (13-6-2) beat the Hilltoppers (13-6-1) for the second time this season an in a sectional for the second straight year by controlling every aspect of the matchup.
“They are physical, they have size, and they have numbers,” Onalaska coach Tyler Ludeking said. “They also have numbers and are able to sub on two or three at a time, and we just weren’t in that position this year.”
The Wildcats, who were playing in their fifth straight sectional final, received all of their goals from junior Olivia Doerre. The first two came off of corner kicks in the 30th and 35th minutes and after a good amount of River Falls pressure on the goal.
The Wildcats had four looks at the goal in the first five minutes. Freshman goalkeeper Avery Cowley stopped one, and one was cleared by a teammate before it reached her. One – a slow roller — was wide left, and a free kick bounced off of Cowley’s hands and then off the crossbar before bounding away from the goal.
Both of Doerre’s first-half goals came off secondary contact after corner kicks off the foot of senior Hanna Cook.
Doerre scored her third goal off a scramble in front of the net in the 45th minute.
The Wildcats held the Hilltoppers to just one shot in the first half and one shot on goal in the game.
The shot in the first half came when Isabella Cromheecke as open briefly in front of the net in the 12th minute, but it was pushed wide as the defense closed quickly as she positioned for her attempt.
Onalaska’s only shot on goal came in the 77th minute and was taken by Sofiya Cromheecke off her team’s second corner kick of the game.
“We were going to have to play smart soccer, connect on passes and continue to play as a team the way we have,” said Ludeking, whose Hilltoppers have qualified for three sectional finals since 2019, when they were the last team to keep River Falls out of the sectional finals. “We had to be in the right spots and, as we’ve stressed all year, do something with the ball when it bounces in front of us.”
The Hilltoppers had trouble with most of those goals, but River Falls had a lot to do with that with an aggressive and smooth style that produced its 11th shutout of the season and fourth in a row.
“We certainly tried our best, and it wasn’t from a lack of effort,” Ludeking said. “We just couldn’t string anything together today.”
