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 Iowa midfielder Alex Melin (Verona) will get to see the biggest event in women's soccer in person this summer – while working on her own game.
Melin was one of 20 players named to the U.S. Youth Soccer Association Select Under-19 team that will spend nine days in Belgium, Germany and Holland.
The team will play two friendlies against local club teams and watch two matches at the Women's World Cup, which is being held June 26 to July 17 in Germany.
"It will be great competition on the team," Melin said in a story posted on the Iowa website. "I was really happy when I got the call, because I really wanted to play on this team. These are some of the best young players in the country. Players of that caliber will only make me better."
Melin was the Newcomer of the Year for the Hawkeyes last fall, playing in all 20 matches (18 starts) and scoring three goals with one assist.
"The coaching, training and competition on this trip will be excellent," Iowa coach Ron Rainey said. "That experience heading into her sophomore year will have her eyes wide open heading into the fall."
The team was selected from a training camp in December in Bradenton, Fla. Five other players with state ties were among the 45 players invited to the camp: defender Amy Kauffung (Hartland Arrowhead) and midfielder Helen Steinhauser of UW-Milwaukee, midfielder Taylor Madigan (Waunakee) and midfielder-forward Maegan Kelly from Marquette and University of Wisconsin midfielder Alev Kelter. U.S. Youth Soccer has not announced the full roster.
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UW-Oshkosh assistant coach Sean Steele is the new head coach of the men's and women's soccer teams at NCAA Division III Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln, Neb., he wrote on his Twitter feed Monday night. Steele, an Oshkosh native who was a midfielder for the Titans from 1997 to '99, was an assistant in the UW-Oshkosh men's program for the past five years and worked with the women's team for the past three years. He also was a staff coach for the Wisconsin Olympic Development Program and the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association and the technical director for the Appleton Soccer Club. At Nebraska Wesleyan, Steele replaces Mike Lynch, who was named the women's coach at Division II Belmont Abbey (N.C.) last month. The Nebraska Wesleyan men's team was 6-10-1 overall and 5-5-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference last fall, while the Prairie Wolves women were 9-6-2 and 4-5-2.
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Steele's former coach and boss, Toby Bares, was inducted into the UW-Oshkosh Hall of Fame on Sunday. Bares, who started the Titans' program in 1984, recorded a 344-99-38 record and led Oshkosh to 11 NCAA Division III tournament appearances in 26 seasons before retiring last spring. He also was inducted into the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame in March.
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