Wisconsin Soccer Central

The FC Milwaukee Under-17/18 Development Academy side got off to a perfect start to the spring portion of its season.

Max Karcher (Brookfield East) gave the Nationals the lead in the 50th minute, and fellow midfielders Emilio Lopez-Castillo (Verona) and Nathan Steinert (Oshkosh West) added late goals in a 3-0 victory over Sockers FC Chicago on Sunday in Naperville, Ill.

Goalkeeper Alex Cagle (Brookfield East) posted the clean sheet for FC Milwaukee, which lost to the Sockers by the same scoreline back on Sept. 22.

Lopez-Castillo scored in the 81st minute and Steinert finished things off in the 90th for the Nationals (3-10-1), who moved into 10th place in the 13-team Central Conference Mid-America Division. It was the first goal of the season for all three scorers.

The match marked the debut for three former FC Magic players who joined FC Milwaukee after playing high school soccer last fall: striker Audi Jepson (Green Bay Preble), defender Jeremy Nji (Kimberly) and midfielder Adam Pohlman (Neenah) – Jepson and Nji are headed to UW-Green Bay next fall, while Pohlman has verbally committed to UW-Milwaukee for 2014.

The club's Under-15/16 team, meanwhile, was blanked by the Sockers for the second time this season, falling 1-0 after a 3-0 loss in their September meeting. The Nationals remain fourth in the Mid-America Division with a 6-6-2 record.

Both FC Milwaukee teams play their first home matches of the spring next weekend at the club's complex in Germantown, taking on Ohio clubs Internationals on Saturday and Crew Soccer Academy on Sunday. Games start at noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, with the Under-17/18 match preceding the Under-15/16 game.

Membership retained

There was good news for FC Milwaukee off the field, too, as the club announced that the U.S. Soccer Federation confirmed that it will retain its Development Academy membership.

The Nationals, who have been part of the Development Academy since the inaugural 2007-08 season, didn't score well in U.S. Soccer's annual grades the past two years. They scored 9.5 out of 25 on the grading scale in the 2011-12 season – that was tied for 72nd out of the 77 teams in the Development Academy – and earned a two-star rating out of five for the 2010-11 season.

FC Milwaukee's announcement last month that it was in the final stages of a merger with Sockers FC Wisconsin addressed several of the improvements required by U.S. Soccer for the club to remain part of the Academy.

The merger will expand the program's player pool, ideally improving the team's performance, and help reduce the cost of participation. U.S. Soccer also required the program to change its name; "A name change shows a willingness to break down obstacles/rivalries that prevent the state’s best players from joining the club to accelerate their development in this unique elite level-year round boys club soccer program," according to a list of FAQs about the merger. (pdf)

"The significant changes the club has undergone over the past several months have been viewed by the U.S. Soccer Federation's leadership as changes for the better," according to an FC Milwaukee news release. "In light of our new direction, U.S. Soccer has a far greater sense of confidence that our organization's transformation brings with it renewed dedication to maintaining league standards and achieving the highest ideals of the USSDA program."

Development Academy programs have been graded by U.S. Soccer every season, but the Federation has only shared the results publicly the past two years. Clubs are evaluated twice a year, with only the second set of grades released. To grade the clubs, U.S. Soccer conducts live evaluations and video analysis at training sessions and matches and collects administrative information on the club throughout the year.

"We feel the only way to continue to improve is to make sure we hold the clubs accountable to what they're doing," said Claudio Reyna, U.S. Soccer's Youth Technical Director. "They don't like (the grades being made public). They're a little protective, which is normal. But our message is that it's part of improving to put these out in the open to discuss."

In the 2011-12 season, the average grade was 14 and the best score was 20 for the New England Revolution. A year earlier, 63 clubs had grades better than FC Milwaukee's two stars – FC Dallas led the way with the only four-star rating – while only three teams received grades lower than the Nationals and the other 11 clubs with two stars.