Summer League Roundup!

It's 2022 so the preseason has officially begun! Looking forward to the coming summer soccer season, Equal Time will continue covering the WPSL North Division with it's staple of Minnesota + Fargo clubs, with potential additions still to come. With the birth of a new  community owned, pre-professional club in MN Aurora FC, we will expand our coverage to their activity in the reformed USL W League. Joining me in our Summer League coverage will be Lis Schendel, Director of Women's Soccer Content for Protagonist Soccer. I am very grateful to have Lis join us and to make a connection with Protagonist, which is a fine source for all things lower division soccer. 

​Welcome Minnesota Aurora FC

There's no getting around the biggest soccer news in Minnesota this past week, as we finally learned the identity of our new W League team, Minnesota Aurora FC! Community owners started a long design process this past fall, with a longer list narrowed down to 3 finalists. ANY of the final 3 designs would have been among the best crests in American soccer, full stop. Aurora seemed to have a lot of fans in the final round and judging by the rampant social media posting and the constant appearance of Aurora apparel in the Blackhart Bar where i work, the supporters are all in. 
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Where Will They Play?

One of the toughest challenges for a soccer team outside of MLS and NWSL (some clubs), is simply finding a quality location to play. The WPSL teams in our area play in a variety of facility types (more on that later), but most are not built for commercial operations and significant gameday attendance, things that Aurora FC surely cared about in their desire to provide a pre professional environment. Given the challenges of proximity to metro center, available field space, ability for concessions and gameday infrastructure, your options start to run pretty thin. If there's a field to be played on, it likely already was being played on. Where do you turn?

Enter TCO Stadium, located next door Twin Cities Orthopedics which is it's namesake. A quick mental survey of our twin cities sporting facilities will tell you this is perhaps the most underused, while also being one of the nicest. Big NFL money will help with that! TCO is brand new, holds 5,500 fans seated, is built for professional broadcasts, and is hardly every used except for some of the Vikings season. There almost certainly will be flexible tailgate options given the huge amount of parking nearby. I'm most excited to see fans bring back some of the great vibes that were created up at NSC in Blaine during the Thunder/Stars/United era. 

The two drawbacks are perhaps the location in Eagan, which is still under 8 miles away from Allianz Field in Midway, and the football field markings. On the first point, the distance, the team has already announced that they will look at shuttle options, bike routes, and other options to allow fans throughout the metro to get to games easily. In regards to the football lines, it sounds like the lined themselves can be repainted, but the viking head logo may need to stay. Honestly painting over the lines can help a fair amount in the look of the broadcast and the general astestic of watching a game, so let's hope they can accomplish that. 

Who Will They Play?

We recently learned who Aurora's 5 Heartland Division opponents will be and their schedule for the coming year. The Division features two teams in Chicago, and on each in Green Bay, St Louis and Lawrence, Kansas. We don't have a ton of information on players for these teams yet, but many are sprouting from clubs who already have a men's team in USL League Two, or an existing club infrastructure. For now let's get a sense of Aurora's division rivals and your potential summer road trip plans (we can dream!)

 
Chicago City Soccer Club
Chicago, Illinois
​Distance from Midway, St Paul - 350 miles

Team History
Founded in 2013, participate in all levels of USL, from Academy to USL W League and League Two

​Road Trip Appeal (June 17)
The Bean, Chicago Dogs, Navy Pier. We clearly know Chicago. Joking aside, and no slight on Kansas, but it's a big city away trip! Match it up with an NWSL game and call it a bash

 
Chicago Dutch Lions
Chicago, Illinois
Distance from Midway, St Paul - 350 miles

Team History
Founded in 2020 as the 7th (of 9) Dutch Lion Football Clubs in the US. They have played WPSL in the past and their mens team plays in USL League Two

Road Trip Appeal (June 30)
Why not take an Amtrak ride to the Second City? If the stars align you may be able to take in a Loons away match or keep the trip going east to watch an Indy Eleven W League game.

​Green Bay Glory
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Distance from Midway, St Paul - 298 miles

Team History
Founded as a WPSL team in 2019. Like Aurora, Green Bay wasn't founded atop a youth academy, but as a specific desire for pre-professional options in Northern Wisconsin

Road Trip Appeal (July 7, July 9)
The only divisional opponent on a Great Lake! It's a weekend double header you could plan a trip around and also, we love the crest

Kaw Valley FC
Lawrence, Kansas
Distance from Midway, St Paul - 476 miles

Team History
W League and USL League Two teams named Kaw Valley sit atop a youth academy called Sporting Kaw Valley, which is an affiliate of Sporting Kansas City in MLS

Road Trip Appeal (June 2)
Doubling up with a Kansas City NWLS game,  going to KC for some BBQ
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St Louis Lions Soccer Club
St Louis, Missouri
Distance from Midway, St Paul - 532 miles

Team History
Founded in 2005 as a pre-professional USL club. Previously in WPSL and current men's team in USL League Two. Sit atop the TG Lions Academy.

Road Trip Appeal (June 5)
The Arch. This is the longest away trip on the schedule so it's for the diehards. You can pass multiple Presidential Libraries on the way?

​WPSL North Expansion

The WPSL is our country's longest running and largest women's soccer league. They seemingly add teams every year, even if a few trickle to other leagues or drop out. This year there are 21(!) expansion teams. Minnesota has a strong presence and has basically had it's own Conference for the past few years with the one non Minnesota team, Dakota Fusion, also playing their games in Moorhead, MN (go Spuds). The WPSL announced their Conference alignments TODAY, so lets dig into our new additions. We have gained 3 clubs and lost 1 (Fire SC 98) since last season. 

The WPSL has over 100 teams from coast to coast, so there are various ways that the rosters are made up, but the bulk of the teams are the top level of competition for a broader youth club. Their youth players often come back from their college seasons to stay fit and play for their childhood team. This is usually the case with our Northern Conference teams, hence the success of big youth clubs MTA, Salvo and Maplebrook last year. With two Twin Cities youth clubs adding teams into our Division this year in Manitou FC and Joy Athletic, that trend will only continue. We are also truly a regional league as we've added Souix Falls City FC into the mix. We will take suggestions on a Conference nick name now that we have MN, ND and SD in the mix!
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2022 Expansion Teams 

Manitou FC
White Bear Lake, MN

History
Founded as White Bear Soccer Club in 1981, known as Manitou FC since 2020. They feature teams from U5 up to pre professional. 

Fun Facts
Manitou FC's Club Sporting Director and WPSL Coach is Edi Buro, who played the Minnesota Thunder and Minnesota United sandwiched around a stint playing in Bosnia professionally. The crest is immediately one of the best in the Conference

Joy Athletic Club
St Louis Park, MN

History
Founded in 2009 by parent Non Profit Joy of the People, who seek to build communities and health through play.

Fun Facts
They started a men's NPSL team in 2021 and a member of that team is trialing with MN United 2 right now, Emmanuel Iwe. Can we also give it up for the crest of Joy Athletic? My goodness we are a sucker for good design. 

Sioux Falls City FC
Sioux Falls, SD

History
Founded in 2021 to provide the highest level of developmental soccer opportunities for elite female soccer players in the Sioux Falls region

Fun Facts
We will say without deep research that this is the first WPSL team from South Dakota. Go visit the waterfalls of the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls, an underrated Midwest small city!

Fire 98 SC departs WPSL​

As rumors indicated this fall, Fire 98 SC will cease operations of their WPSL team in 2022. The Fire are a long time WPSL team who have struggled a bit on the field in recent years. With the announcement of the 2022 WPSL schedule, we now have confirmation that the Fire will not be playing in WPSL in 2022. 

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(All summer league coverage on Equal Time Soccer is done by Mark Privratsky or by his co-host Lis Schendel. Matt Privratsky, who covers the Gophers and Minnesotans playing pro for Equal Time, is one of the founders of MN Aurora FC so he doesn’t play any role in covering the USL W League or WPSL teams in MN)