 The Summer of Soccer has officially begun with the kickoff of the 2021 WPSL season. The global pandemic (among the bigger worldly impacts) meant delaying, or in the case of the WPSL, cancelling so many soccer leagues seasons last year. However, 2020’s loss is certainly 2021’s gain! We have a Women’s Olympic soccer tournament to look forward to, the Gold Cup, Copa America and Euros, not to mention the big increase in televised NWSL games. For Minnesotans (and Fargoeans?), we are fortunate to have a high level women’s soccer competition right in our back yard. The Women's Premier Soccer League is the longest running Women’s Soccer League in the United States, starting in 1998 and now featuring an all time high of 141 clubs across the country in 17+ conferences. In 2019 we saw an increased presence of Minnesota based clubs, to the point of now having 6 Minnesota (+1 from Fargo) based WPSL teams. These clubs play in WPSL Northern Conference from the end of May through July. We hope to get into a deeper roster dive when we get a better sense of how the teams come together -- and we did our annual check in with WPSL President Sean Jones to see what we could learn from 10,000 feet -- but for now let’s get to know your local team and how to watch this exciting summer league. CLUBS  Mankato United SC Mankato United played in the 2019 season of the WPSL and found some immediate success, going 6-3-1 with a large contingent of MSU-Mankato players. With many of the WPSL teams drawing players from many different places, Mankato drew on MSU chemistry along with a strong contingent of other NSIC performers and some D-I talent from the midwest. Last weekend we were fortunate to attend Mankato United’s kickoff event at LocALE Brewery in Mankato. You can find some player interviews from that trip on our Twitter feed. Like in their inaugural season, Mankato United will largely rely on a core group of Mavericks from MSU. They will also feature many Minnesotans from D-II and D-III schools, as well as some regional D-I from schools like Nebraska-Omaha and the Dakotas.  Where to they play? Mankato United will be playing at the Bethany Lutheran College Soccer Field. The club was very excited about the partnership that will see Bethany Lutheran students support video production, which should lead to a professional grade stream. Home Opener June 4 vs. Fire SC 98 7pm kickoff Bethany Lutheran Soccer Field, New Ulm  Salvo SC Salvo played in the 2019 WPSL season and finished 6-2-3, winning the conference. Salvo are a successful youth club who will continue to draw heavily from their youth/alumni player pool. For Equal Time followers who root for the Gophers, you will also see some familiar faces here, with Megan Plashko, Emily Heslin, Molly Fiedler, Sadie Harper, Sophie Boman and others. When you combine the Gopher players at Salvo with their youth academy players and the chemistry that comes with that, you’d have to expect wins out of this team. *Salvo are tied for my favorite crest in the Conference  Where do they play? Salvo SC will play their home games at Reynolds Field, the Football and Soccer Stadium for Northwestern College in Roseville. As a Midway resident, I’m selfishly happy to be in bikeable distance from Salvo games! Home Opener Friday June 4 vs. Minnesota Thunder 7pm kickoff Reynolds Field, Roseville  Minnesota Thunder Don’t let the logo pulled from the WPSL website fool you, this club plays by the name “Minnesota Thunder” (no “academy”). This is the first team to play under the Thunder name since 2009 (enjoy the wikipedia deep dive http://bit.ly/MNTHUNDER). We are here for the Thunder nostalgia! Bring out your retro gear please. Like Salvo SC, the Thunder figure to have a depth of high level academy talent to pull from. While we don’t know how many of their youth players will feature in the WPSL, we know from a few early tweets that the Thunder are stocked with some D-I heavy hitters. Alana Dresseley, Ariana Del Moral and Makenzie Langdok all come from the Gophers (as well as incoming transfer Christa Von Loon), with players also joining from Wisconsin, South Dakota State, Notre Dame and Boston University. We certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see the Thunder make some noise (bad wordplay barf) this summer.  Where do they play? The Minnesota Thunder will play at the Stardome at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. The Thunder easily take the award for best pitch name and it isn’t even close. They will be the only club playing indoors in the conference, so if you’re looking for Metrodome nostalgia, this may be your best shot this summer. Home Opener Sunday June 6th vs. Mankato United SC 7:45pm kickoff Stardome, Academy of Holy Angels, Richfield  Rochester United FC Rochester United FC competed in the 2019 WPSL Season, finishing 2-7-1. They’ve announced much of this year’s roster on Instagram, and its the type of mix you’d expect from a summer league squad. You’ve got D-I talent (Minnesotans and otherwise) from Nebraska, Louisiana, UC Riverside, SDSU, Florida International, Ohio, Old Dominion and Evansville, Minnesotans playing D-II and D-III, and some random D-II and NAIA talent from across the country. Rochester is definitely getting creative with housing support! In addition to the WPSL schedule, Rochester United will feature a reserve team that will play clubs from the metro, Wisconsin and Iowa. Rochester United FC officially kicked off our conference schedule against Dakota Fusion FC last weekend with a 4-0 win. The game unfortunately wasn’t able to be streamed and there isn’t much information to be found on the match. We will watch out for future links to Rochester games! *Rochester United FC are tied for my favorite crest in the Conference  Where do they play? Rochester United plays at Spartan Field, the Mayo High School stadium. Fun fact: the Spartan Field turf is the LITERAL turf from the metrodome . If you are looking for heartbreaking nostalgia from Twins, Vikings and Gophers losses, this is your pitch. Home Opener Saturday, May 22 vs. Dakota Fusion FC (W 4-0) Next home match: Wednesday, June 9 vs Mankato United 7pm. kickoff Spartan Field at Mayo High School, Rochester   Dakota Fusion FC Dakota Fusion FC are the only non-Minnesotan team in the Northern Conference. In fairness though, they could likely kick a soccer ball to Minnesota from Fargo (say it in a MN accent). Dakota Fusion are also the only WPSL team with a male NPSL counterpart, and most importantly, the only team with a personalized bus… No doubt that Dakota Fusion FC wins the Equal Time award for Best Team Transport. Any other challengers submit to @markprivratsky on twitter, bribes accepted. Dakota Fusion finished the 2019 WPSL Season 2-8-0 to finish last in the Conference.  Where do they play? Dakota Fusion plays at Jim Gotta Stadium at Moorhead Highschool (home of the Spuds!). So even while Dakota Fusion are based in Fargo, all of the Northern Conference games will be played in Minnesota this summer. We can hold out hope for a game in the Fargodome. Home Opener Saturday, May 29 vs. Maplebrook Fury (UPDATE: postponed) 5pm kickoff Jim Gotta Stadium, Moorhead  Maplebrook Fury Maplebrook Fury are affiliated with the Maplebrook Soccer Club out of Maple Grove. Maplebrook Fury finished 2nd in the Conference in the 2019 season, going 6-1-3 on the year. Like other teams in the WPSL, Maplebrook has a strong contingent of their youth players to fill out their roster, playing last season essentially a U-19 team -- benefitting from existing chemistry in a league that almost entirely assembles talent and starts the chemistry building process from scratch. *Maplebrook Fury SC are tied for my favorite crest in the Conference  Where do they play? Maplebrook Fury play at Maple Grove High School Stadium (home of the Crimson!) Home Opener Saturday, June 5 vs. Rochester United FC 7pm kickoff Maple Grove High School Stadium  Fire SC 98 Fire SC 98 is a WPSL team affiliated with the Fire 98 Soccer Club. The team was created on the 20th anniversary of the youth club to honor the legacy of the Club’s creators. Fire SC finished the 2019 WPSL season 2-2-6 to end mid table. There isn’t much info regarding the 2021 roster at this time -- as with a few of the teams in the conference -- so we’ll be interested to see who suits up once the games start!  Where do they play? Fire SC play at Seafoam Stadium on the campus of Concordia University in Saint Paul. Seafoam is definitely the most transit accessible stadium in the Conference, right off of the Green Line and I-94. Home Opener Friday, June 18 vs. Dakota Fusion FC 7pm kickoff Seafoam Stadium, Concordia University, Saint Paul Mark Privratsky
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