The Kickoff: Sunday, Aug. 4
Your roundup of soccer news across Wisconsin and beyond
Top of the box
Three teams ended the summer by lifting trophies Saturday at Woodside Sports Complex in Wisconsin Dells as the amateur season concluded with the Wisconsin Challenge Cup and the first final of the Wisconsin Cup — the day’s events were organized by Wisconsin Soccer Leagues, the governing body for adult soccer in the state. Congratulations to the Madison United and Superior City FC men’s teams and the Isthmus City FC women’s team on their championships. Read on for more details.
Wisconsin Challenge Cup
Just a few days earlier, Madison United wasn’t even supposed to be playing in the Wisconsin Challenge Cup. Early Saturday evening, though, they were celebrating their second straight championship. St. Cloud State’s Johan Lopez (Baraboo) had three of United’s six goals on the day as they beat FC Wisconsin Brewers 2-1 and Member FC 4-2 to claim the 80th Challenge Cup title in a round-robin competition. List of Wisconsin Challenge Cup champions
A goal by Anthony Letang (Madison Memorial) with approximately 15 minutes left in the 70-minute match gave United a 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Brewers in the first game of the day. Richard Johnson (UW-Milwaukee) put the Milwaukee Premier League champions ahead on a header in the 5th minute, but Lopez answered off a pass from Chase Gray to finish off a nice sequence in the 20th. On the decisive goal, Letang won the ball about 30 yards out on the left side and worked his way to the top of the 6-yard box before slotting a shot to the far post past Brewers goalkeeper Mattson Wick (New Berlin West/Concordia). United, which beat the Brewers 3-1 in the Challenge Cup semifinals last year, replaced Madison Soccer Association champion PHFC in the tournament earlier in the week — PHFC knocked off Madison United on penalties in the MSA final in May.
In the day’s final match, United trailed by two goals in the opening 5 minutes, but Lopez scored twice and Noah Mesdjian (Madison Memorial/UW-Platteville/Edgewood) and Edgewood’s Noah Hook (Verona) also had goals in a 4-2 victory over nine-man Member FC to secure the title. Mzaliwa Yona struck in the opening 30 seconds and again in the 4th minute for Member FC, which won the Northern Wisconsin Soccer League Division Two this summer. Lopez scored on a free kick from 23 yards out in the 14th minute to get United on the board, and Member FC were reduced to 10 men 5 minutes later when a player picked up his second yellow card. In the second half, Mesdjian pulled United level at 2 with a left-footed shot from the top of the box and Hook gave the Madison side the lead when he converted a penalty after Gray latched onto a through ball and was taken down by the goalkeeper in the box. Lopez wrapped up the win with a late insurance goal. Member FC had a second player sent off for a second booking in the final minute, another player received a second yellow while on the bench after being subbed out and two members of the Member FC technical staff also were sent off in the game.
Matt White (UW-Whitewater), Alex Eastman (Menomonee Falls/UW-Milwaukee) and Dominic Mudlaff (Waukesha Catholic Memorial/UW-Whitewater) scored as FC Wisconsin Brewers finished second in the round-robin thanks to a 3-2 victory over Member FC in the other match. Mata Twihenya and lwatoma Mchindewa had the goals for Member FC.
2024 Wisconsin Challenge Cup men’s champion Madison United
Sophia Scheffler (Appleton East) had a brace and Connecticut College’s Maya Griffin (Madison East) added a late goal to seal the victory as Isthmus City FC beat Milwaukee City AFC 3-1 to win the inaugural Women’s Challenge Cup. Scheffler gave Isthmus City the early lead in the opening 5 minutes, then doubled their lead in the 59th. Shaye Wolfe (Alverno) pulled one back for Milwaukee City — who beat ICFC 3-0 in a Milwaukee Premier League match three days earlier — but Hanna Johnson (Evansville) set up Griffin for an insurance goal in the 78th.
2024 Wisconsin Challenge Cup women’s champion Isthmus City FC WISCONSIN CHALLENGE CUP
At Woodside Sports Complex, Wisconsin Dells
Men
Standings: Madison United 6 points, FC Wisconsin Brewers 3, Member FC 0.
Game 1: FC Wisconsin Brewers 1:2 Madison United
Game 2: Member FC 2:3 FC Wisconsin Brewers
Game 3: Member FC 2:4 Madison United
Women
Final
Milwaukee City AFC 1:3 Isthmus City FC
Wisconsin Cup
Goalkeeper Luke Rice turned in a tremendous performance as UPSL side Superior City FC turned back wave after wave of FC Milwaukee Torrent pressure, and Malley Lumsden scored the lone goal in the 54th minute as the Navy held on for a 1-0 victory in the final of the inaugural Wisconsin Cup.
Rice, a Michigan native who plays at NCAA Division III Northland College in Ashland, made 14 saves and was the unofficial Man of the Match. The Torrent — the USASA National Amateur Cup runners-up — dominated possession and fired 44 shots, but couldn’t find a way past Rice and the Superior City backline, which helped their keeper by blocking shots and constantly clearing balls out of the box.
The Torrent thought they had an equalizer in the 83rd minute on a header off a free kick, but it was ruled out for offside, and the NPSL side then pinged shots off the crossbar in the 88th and off the post in stoppage time.
Lumsden, a Jamaican who is the club’s all-time leading scorer, was just onside in his own half when he ran past two Torrent defenders onto a through ball and slipped a shot from the top of the box past onrushing keeper Sam Ortner (Wauwatosa East) for the game’s only goal. It was just the second shot of the day for the Navy, who would add one more attempt later trying to catch Ortner up field helping start the attack.
The Torrent played most of the match without influential midfielder Javier Steinwascher, who left in the 15th minute with what appeared to be a leg injury. Neither side had a full roster for the final as many college soccer players had already returned to their school teams ahead of the upcoming fall season.
Amateur
Mach IV and Lakeshore United, who finished second and third in the Northern Wisconsin Soccer League Division One regular season, will meet in today’s final of the eighth Noel Messou Cup after winning semifinals Saturday. Mach IV (7-2-1), which knocked off the Neenah Boom 3-1 in the semifinals, topped Lakeshore 5-2 in their regular-season meeting on June 12. Lakeshore (7-3-0) then lost to champions Millerlitecup 5-4 four days later, but have won seven straight games since, including Saturday’s 10-2 semifinal rout of DC Express. Today’s final is set for noon at Neenah St. Mary High School. List of Noel Messou Cup champions
NORTHERN WISCONSIN SOCCER LEAGUE
NOEL MESSOU CUP
Semifinals
No. 1 Mach IV 3:1 No. 4 Neenah Boom
No. 2 Lakeshore United 10:2 No. 3 DC Express
Final 8/4
At Neenah St. Mary High School
Mach IV (7-2-1) vs. Lakeshore United (7-3-0), noonUW-Green Bay defender So Nishikawa and the Seacoast United Phantoms won the USL League Two championship Saturday night, coming back twice and beating host Peoria City 3-2 after extra time in a final watched by more than 3,000 fans. Nishikawa started and played 58 minutes for the Phantoms (17-1-0); Phoenix forward Chris Album also played for Seacoast United this season, but wasn’t in the match day squad the past few weeks. UWGB midfielder Tommy Coughlin started for Peoria City (11-2-4), while college teammate Myles Sophanavong came off the bench in the 68th minute — both picked up yellow cards.
Standings
MIDWEST PREMIER LEAGUE
Heartland Conference
Division 1
Final
W-L-T - Pts
RWB Adria Chicago 8-1-1 - 25
Bavarian United 6-2-2 - 20
Chicago House AC 6-3-1 - 19
DeKalb County United 3-5-2 - 11
Czarni Jaslo Chicago 2-7-1 - 7
🔽 Steel City FC 1-8-1 - 4
Last-place team relegated to Division 2 for 2025
8/3
RWB Adria 2:1 Chicago House
Division 2
Final
W-L-T - Pts
🏆 🔼 AFC Roscoe 9-1-2 - 29
🔼 Green Bay Glory 8-4-0 - 24
Rockford FC 7-4-1 - 22
Edgewater Castle 5-3-4 - 19
Chicago Ghost 3-6-3 - 12
Berber City 2-7-3 - 9
Strikers Fox Valley 1-10-1 - 4
Top two teams promoted to Division 1 for 2025
WISCONSIN SOCCER LEAGUES
MILWAUKEE PREMIER LEAGUE
Women's Division
W-L-T - Pts
Milwaukee Kickers 6-0-1 - 19
North Shore United U23 5-1-2 - 17
Isthmus City FC 3-4-1 - 10
Milwaukee City AFC 3-5-0 - 9
Croatian Eagles 0-7-0 - 0
Professional
Forward Madison FC scored two highlight-reel goals, the second by center back Jacob Crull in the 5th minute of second-half stoppage time, to earn a 2-2 away draw with rival Union Omaha in a match-up between two of USL League One’s top sides Saturday night. The teams are tied with the Greenville Triumph on 23 points, and all three are one point behind the league-leading Charlotte Independence. Juan Galindrez gave FMFC the lead with his acrobatic goal in the 47th, only to see the host Owls score twice in an 8-minute span in the second half to take the lead. But Crull’s late piece of skill and finish at the back post — his first goal of the season and first since June 22, 2023 — allowed the Flamingos to claim a point. Forward Madison plays host to the Chattanooga Red Wolves in a USL Jägermeister Cup match next Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field — the Flamingos have a one-point lead in the Central Group with two games left.
Ethan Hoard (Racine Case/UW-Green Bay) scored his third goal in USL League One play — and ninth in all competitions — to help the host Northern Colorado Hailstorm surge past the Richmond Kickers 3-1 on Saturday night. Hoard’s 55th-minute goal snapped a tie and proved to be the game-winner.
In Australia, Haley Johnson (Kenosha Tremper/UW-Milwaukee) and the Preston Lions lost to FC Bulleen Lions 3-2 in the 12th Nike FC Cup final today at The Home of the Matildas in Melbourne. Johnson — who has 19 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions — appeared to have equalized for Preston in the 64th minute, but it was ruled out for offside. The teams meet again Aug. 12 in an NPL Victoria Women’s match — Bulleen (15-3-1) leads the league by six points over Preston and the Essendon Royals (13-5-1) with three games left in the regular season. The top four sides advance to the finals series to determine the champion.