Wisconsin Soccer Central

Despite having to defend tooth and nail throughout the second half, the FC Wisconsin Nationals had two great chances to score a late winner and claim a national championship, but both times the shot went just wide.

Then in the second 15-minute period of extra time, needing a goal to pull level against St. Louis Scott Gallagher and potentially take the match to penalty kicks, the Nationals saw shots clang off the crossbar and the post.

"It wasn't meant to be," FC Wisconsin coach Billy Solberg said of his team's 2-1 loss after extra time in the U.S. Adult Soccer Association Women's Under-23 final last Sunday morning in Overland Park, Kan.

The goals scored by Scott Gallagher were the only ones allowed on the weekend by the Nationals, whose 15-player roster included five players each from UW-Milwaukee and Marquette and two recent high school graduates.

FC Wisconsin cruised through their first two group matches, blanking Woodbury (Minn.) 4-0 on Friday and the Louisiana State Select team 9-0 on Saturday before a tough matchup with the Houston Aces – both teams had won their first two games, with the Nationals needing a win or tie to advance and the Texas side needing a win to earn a spot in the final.

"It was like a semifinal for both teams," Solberg said. "They came out with a ton of energy, we kind of weathered the storm a little bit to begin with and then had two really good goals."

Alex Melin (Verona) scored the first goal off a pass from Iowa teammate Ashley Catrell – the team's only player not from Wisconsin or playing college soccer in the state – and Marquette's Kate Reigle (Brookfield East) added the second.

"It quieted them down once we got our first goal," Solberg said. "They just ran out of energy. They were so fired up to get a result, I think, that they pressed a little bit too fast, too early, too often. We had some quality kids that could keep the ball and made them chase a little bit, and I think that wore them out."

Rachel Tejada gave Scott Gallagher the first-half lead in Sunday's final, but Melin answered less than 10 minutes later for an FC Wisconsin side that carried the play in the opening 45 minutes. The second half was a different story, though.

"The first probably 42 minutes of the second half, they were all over us," Solberg said. "We defended our tails off in the second half."

In the final 3 minutes, the Nationals twice played balls to Catrell in behind the St. Louis backline, but the Hawkeyes forward couldn't convert, with one shot spinning just the wrong side of the goal. "The last 3 minutes we had probably two of the more dangerous attacks in the second half and it just didn't go our way," Solberg said.

A set piece about 5 minutes into the first period of extra time led to the eventual winning goal. FC Wisconsin ended up conceding a corner kick and couldn't clear the ball out, and Lydia Harlan's shot just got over the fingertips of Nationals goalkeeper Olivia Hoff (Whitefish Bay/UW) to put Scott Gallagher in front for the second time.

FC Wisconsin poured players forward for the final 25 minutes of extra time – "We went extremely attacking," Solberg said – but the woodwork got in the way as Catrell hit the post and Melin hit the crossbar.

"We were really, really unfortunate in the second overtime," Solberg said. "In the long run, it probably was a fair result, but we could've stole it."

Solberg, who played at Brookfield East and Marquette University, previously coached at FC Milwaukee – he returned to the re-named club in May and is the associate director of the Nationals' U.S. Soccer Development Academy program. He coached several of the Under-23 women's players during his previous stint with the club, when they were part of his Under-18 team.

"I didn't expect to get where we got, even though I knew we had a good squad," said Solberg, who trained the team for six weeks. "I was very pleased with their work ethic, attitude, performance and I think they deserved every bit of it."

FC WISCONSIN NATIONALS ROSTER
Goalkeeper: Olivia Hoff (Whitefish Bay/UW).
Defenders: Emily Jacobson, Marquette (Shorewood); Amy Kauffung, UW-Milwaukee (Hartland Arrowhead); Hannah Kaul, UW-Milwaukee; Jackie Wandt, Northern Illinois recruit (Brookfield East).
Midfielders: Elizabeth Bollinger, Marquette; Emma Fatla, UW-Milwaukee (Grafton); Abbey Hoerchner, UW-Milwaukee (Kettle Moraine); Cara Jacobson, Marquette (Shorewood); Anna Jurken, Marquette recruit (Waukesha Catholic Memorial); Alex Melin, Iowa (Verona); Emma Worthington, UW-Milwaukee.
Forwards: Ashley Catrell, Iowa; Taylor Madigan, Marquette (Waunakee); Kate Reigle, Marquette (Brookfield East).

• Marquette standout Maegan Kelly and the KC Dynamos finished second in the four-team Open Cup competition at the inaugural USASA National Women's Championships, beating the Kansas City Shock and Des Moines Menace – both from the Women's Premier Soccer League Midwest Division – by matching 3-1 scores after losing to the eventual champion Houston Aces 3-1 in their first match.
• Christy Zwolski (Marquette) and Cincinnati's Lady Saints lost all three of their group matches in the Amateur Cup competition at the National Women's Championship. Zwolski, who played for the Golden Eagles from 2004 to '07 and is one of the Lady Saints' leading scorers this season, wasn't available for the team's first two matches.

Another FC Wisconsin Under-23 team advanced to a national tournament this week, as the FC Wisconsin Eclipse team beat host Sockers FC Chicago 2-0 on Tuesday night to clinch a spot at the Elite Clubs National League nationals from July 11 to 14 in Richmond, Va.

University of Wisconsin forward Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East) scored both goals against Sockers FC for FC Wisconsin Eclipse, which finished 3-2-1 in Midwest Conference play - both losses came in one-goal games.

Results
June 8: FC Wisconsin Eclipse 1, Eclipse Select 1
June 14: FC Wisconsin Eclipse 2, Sockers FC Chicago 1
June 19: Eclipse Select 1, FC Wisconsin Eclipse 0
June 29: FC Wisconsin Eclipse 3, Ohio Premier Eagles
June 30: Ohio Elite 2, FC Wisconsin Eclipse 1
July 2: FC Wisconsin Eclipse 2, Sockers FC Chicago 0

Roster
Goalkeeper: Monica Gonyo, Loyola, Ill. (Waukesha Catholic Memorial).
Defenders: Valerie Gonyo, Loyola, Ill. (Waukesha Catholic Memorial); Katie Hishmeh, Marquette (Brookfield Central); Mariah Vichich, Loyola, Ill. (Whitefish Bay); Brittany Von Rueden (Milwaukee); Carly Vogel, UW (Germantown).
Midfielders: Holly Heckendorf, UW (Sussex Hamilton); Jacie Jermier, Marquette (McFarland); Mary Luba, Marquette (Shorewood); McKenna Meuer, UW (Madison Memorial); Alex Piercy, Central Florida (Brookfield East); Ashley Stemmeler, Marquette (Mequon Homestead); Mady Vicker, Marquette (Whitefish Bay).
Forwards: Allegra Godfrey, Valparaiso recruit (Oshkosh West); Justine Hovden, Baylor (Lake Geneva Badger); Cara Walls, UW (Wauwatosa East).