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Milwaukee Torrent announced as charter member of ASL2 Midwest

05/20/2015, 4:15pm CDT
By ERIC ANDERSON
Milwaukee Torrent and American Soccer League logos

The state's newest professional outdoor soccer team will play in a new league.

The Milwaukee Torrent will be a charter member of the ASL2 Midwest Region in 2016, the team and the American Soccer League announced Wednesday.

North Dakota's FC Fargo and an unidentified team from St. Paul, Minn., also will be part of the league, according to a news release, while two other teams have verbally committed to join the division. Torrent owner and coach Andreas Davi will be the Midwest Region manager. (Read release)

ASL2 is a new division of the ASL, a professional league that launched last fall with eight teams in the Northeast and is set to add at least two more teams for the 2015-16 season. ASL2 will allow clubs to field either professional or amateur teams, in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules, and will play from May through July.

Matt Driver is the ASL's president and CEO, while Dan Trainor is the league's commissioner. Both previously were among the leaders of the National Premier Soccer League before starting the ASL.

"I'm excited to be part of the ASL because it is run by two guys I worked with before in the NPSL," said Davi, who met Driver and Trainor when he coached the Milwaukee Bavarians in the NPSL from 2010 to '12. "Starting this in the Midwest is huge, to bring professional soccer to the Midwest for teams who are committed to professional soccer and run on a low budget. It is the next step to something bigger and great. ... A step that has a really low financial risk and absolutely is doable."

Davi said the goal is to have at six to eight teams for the inaugural ASL2 Midwest season, and the league will look to Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska as it seeks addtional teams for the 2016 season.

ASL2 will debut this summer in the Northeast; the league announced Wednesday that eight teams have been confirmed for the 2015 season. Davi said there's a chance the Northeast and Midwest champions could meet in an ASL2 final next year.

Davi also looked into having the Torrent – the state's first outdoor pro team since the Milwaukee Wave United played its final game back in 2004 – join the Great Lakes Premier League, the NPSL and the USL Premier Development League.

"This is the important thing: Everything that you want to do in MLS, in NASL, in USL games – meeting soccer fans, people who are crazy for soccer, people who want to chant, people who identify with the club – you can do all of this with the Torrent in the ASL without paying $20 or $30 a ticket," Davi said. "And you can be part of a club that is there for the community. ... It doesn't matter which league you play in, if you put the heart in it and you have an identification with the club."

The Torrent's home field will be Time Warner Cable Stadium at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee. In addition to the ASL2 season, Davi is considering having the team enter qualifying for the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – in a change, the U.S. Soccer Federation is taking over the qualiying process for the national tournament, TheCup.us reported earlier this year. (Read article)

American Soccer League website

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