The Kickoff: Wednesday, Aug. 21
Your roundup of soccer news across Wisconsin and beyond
Top of the box
The Marquette men’s soccer team had a special guest speaker Tuesday morning as they gear up for their season opener: Golden Eagles men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart (Oregon). He’s led Marquette to a 75-30 record and NCAA tournament appearances in each of his first three seasons in Milwaukee.
No word if Smart showed off any soccer skills to the Golden Eagles: After all, he was a two-time, All-Badger Conference selection for Oregon, making the first team as a defender in 1994 after being a second-team pick as a midfielder as junior in 1993.
One of Smart’s teammates with the Panthers was Chris Mitchell, who’s now the head coach of the Oregon boys and girls soccer teams.
College men
Notre Dame senior striker Matthew Roou (Germantown) was named to the third team of the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI teams.
Roou has 21 goals and 10 assists in 61 career appearances for the Fighting Irish (49 starts), and had 10 goals and three assists in 20 games (all starts) last fall.
UW midfielder Dean Boltz, who was the MLS NEXT U19 MVP for Sockers FC Chicago last season, was named to the website’s Preseason All-Freshman team.
Thursday's season openers
UW-Milwaukee vs. Lindenwood, 4 p.m. at Engelmann Stadium (ESPN+ 💲)
Marquette vs. Drexel, 5:30 p.m. at Valley Fields (FloFC 💲)
UW vs. Marist, 7 p.m. at McClimon Complex (B1G+ 💲)
Northwestern vs. UW-Green Bay, 7 p.m. (B1G+ 💲)
College women
UW checks in at No. 15 and UW-Milwaukee is No. 34 in this year’s edition of SoccerWire’s highest-ranked women’s college soccer programs.
The rankings are based on a combination of United Soccer Coaches final polls and Rating Percentage Index (RPI) from each season for the past five years, with bonuses awarded for NCAA tournament qualification and College Cup victories.
UW dropped out of the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 this week after falling to then-No. 3 BYU 1-0 on the road in their season opener last Thursday. The Badgers were among other teams receiving votes in the national poll and are ranked sixth in the North Region poll this week.
Thursday's games
Northwestern vs. Marquette (0-1-1), 4 p.m. (B1G+ 💲)
Connecticut vs. UW (0-1-0), 4 p.m. (UCONN+)
Ohio State vs. UW-Milwaukee (0-1-0), 5 p.m. (B1G+ 💲)
Amateur
Eight players with state ties earned spots on the WPSL Central Region Best XI all-conference teams for their performances over the summer — including four players from Lake Michigan Division champion FC Milwaukee Torrent.
Heartland Conference
F Kate Gibson, Union KC (Marquette)
Midwest Conference
Gateway Division
F Kayla Budish, FC Pride (Brookfield Central)
Lake Michigan Division
D Greta Hanson, FC Milwaukee Torrent (Hartland Arrowhead)*
M Lainey Higgins, FC Milwaukee Torrent (Appleton East/UW-Milwaukee)*
M McKayla Legois, Green Bay Glory (Sheboygan North/UW-Green Bay)
F Josie Bieda, FC Milwaukee Torrent (Marquette)*
F Addison Stanciak, FC Milwaukee Torrent
Northern Conference
M Avery Murdzek, St. Croix Legacy (Hudson)
* — second WPSL all-conference honor
High school boys
Includes data from the WSCA High School Record Book
Longest active unbeaten streaks heading into 2024 season
32: Brookfield East (27-0-5)
20: Edgerton (16-0-4)
19: Hudson (16-0-3)
16: Somers Shoreland Lutheran (16-0-0)*
14: Middleton 14 (11-0-3)
* longest active winning streak
Note: Penalty kick shootout losses are officially recorded as ties
Linking play
NBC nets most-watched Premier League opening weekend ever (World Soccer Talk)
Guatemalan coach Leiva gunned down before team's game (USA Today Pro Soccer Wire)
Jack Harlow joins ownership group for Racing Louisville, Louisville City soccer clubs (Louisville Courier Journal)
NWSL expansion talks include Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver (Sportico)