Wisconsin Soccer Central

It might still look and feel like winter outside, but the spring season starts this weekend for the FC Milwaukee Academy teams.

The Nationals' Under-17/18 and Under-15/16 sides will take on Sockers FC Chicago in U.S. Soccer Development Academy matches Sunday at the Nike Park Turf Field in Naperville, Ill., in their first league action since November.

The FC Milwaukee Under-15/16 team is 6-5-2 and in fourth place in the 13-team Central Conference Mid-America Division, while the Under-17/18 squad is 2-10-1 and in 11th place.

Both Nationals teams have 14 matches left before the Academy season ends June 1, with nine games scheduled for the turf field at the club's complex in Germantown – the first of those are against Ohio's Internationals and Crew Soccer Academy on March 23 and 24.

This spring is expected to be the last season for FC Milwaukee, which was a charter member of the Development Academy when it started in 2007. The club announced last month that it is in the final stages of a merger with Sockers FC Wisconsin – an affiliate of the Chicago club – for the 2013-14 season.

• The North Shore United Blue Under-18 girls team will close out the U.S. Youth Soccer National League season this weekend in Las Vegas. North Shore (0-3-1) is sixth in the eight-team Red Division after matches Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 in North Carolina and Dec. 31 to Jan. 2 in Florida, and will face Nevada's Players SC (0-4-0) on Friday, California's Albion White (1-2-1) on Saturday and New York's Empire Revolution Academy (0-4-0) on Sunday.
• The National League is adding Under-14 boys and girls divisions for the 2013-14 season to go along with its Under-15 through Under-18 groups. Sixteen teams will be selected for each Under-14 division, split into two groups and playing seven round-robin matches. Each of the four U.S. Youth Soccer regions are allowed four entries in the National League – this year's Region II champion and runner-up will both qualify, with the other two Region II spots coming from open applications.