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 Three Croatian Eagles teams will represent Wisconsin at the U.S. Adult Soccer Association Region II championships this weekend in Overland Park, Kan.
The Franklin club has teams entered in the Men's Amateur, Men's Under-23 and Women's competitions at the tournament. Regional champions advance to the USASA National Cup Finals, which are July 15 to 17 in Bowling Green, Kent.
In the nine-team Men's Amateur division, the Croatian Eagles are in Group C and play Westside (Ind.) at 4:30 p.m. Friday and Woodson City Rangers (Mo.) at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.
The three group winners advance to Sunday morning's semifinals, while the other six teams will play one more game to help determine the other semifinalist – the team with the most points in its three matches earns the spot.
The Eagles' Under-23 team opens Group B play at 2:15 p.m. Friday against the team that ended their tournament last year: Louisville Soccer Alliance. The Kentucky team scored two late goals to beat Croatians 3-2, denying the Eagles a spot in the semifinals of the 2010 tournament.
The other Under-23 pool matches are Saturday, against KC United at 8 a.m. and Michigan's Jaier at 12:30 p.m. The two group champions advance to the regional final, which is set for 8 a.m. Sunday.
The Croatians' women's team looks to follow up its impressive display in its inaugural regional tournament last June, when they missed out on the title by one goal in a tiebreaker following a three-way tie.
They play St. Louis at 6:30 p.m. Friday, JB Marine (Mo.) at 10:15 a.m. Saturday and KC Dynahawks at 5 p.m. Saturday, and the top two finishers in the four-team round-robin will play for the title at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. JB Marine joined the Eagles in narrowly missing out on the Region II title last year.
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