Wisconsin Soccer Central

Two players who figure to be integral for the University of Wisconsin men's soccer team this fall have been playing together for the past few weeks.

AJ Cochran, named a third-team preseason All-American by College Soccer News earlier this week, joined USL Premier Development League club K-W United in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario. The center back started the season with the Michigan Bucks, one of K-W United's rivals in the Central Conference Great Lakes Division.

UW midfielder-forward Tomislav Zadro, coming back after missing the 2012 season due to a torn ACL in his knee, has two goals and one assist in nine matches for K-W United this summer.

K-W United (4-6-3) is one of four teams still alive for the last Great Lakes Division playoff berth heading into the final game of the regular season – and they all play each other Sunday.

The Toronto Lynx (5-6-2) are in third and are the only team that controls its own destiny: A win over K-W United, which tied first-place Forest City London 2-2 on Friday, would send the Lynx to the playoffs. Toronto also could clinch third with a tie if the Chicago Fire (5-8-0) don't beat the Chicago Inferno (4-6-3) in their finale Sunday night in Bridgeview, Ill.

The third-place finisher will play at the second-place Bucks (8-3-3) on Tuesday for the right to join defending PDL champion FC London (10-2-2) in next weekend's conference playoffs along with the host Thunder Bay Chill (11-1-1) and Real Colorado Foxes (8-2-2) from the Heartland Division.

• The Fire and Inferno both have strong Wisconsin connections. UW's Chris Prince has a team-high five goals for the Fire and is one of eight players with state ties on the team, while the Inferno have six Wisconsin players – Marquette defender John Mau (Kettle Moraine) and midfielder Kelmend Islami (South Milwaukee), UW midfielder David Caban (Kenosha Tremper) and UW-Milwaukee defender Dustin Ashley (Racine Horlick) have all appeared in 10 or more matches. The Fire hold the tiebreaker over Toronto and K-W United; the Inferno would lose a tiebreaker against the Lynx and would need to make up at least nine goals in differential if they tie with K-W United.
• Ashley slammed home his second goal of the season in the 90th minute Friday night to give the Inferno a 2-1 victory over the River City Rovers in Wheaton, Ill. 
• Zadro set up Jay Chapman's 41st-minute opener Wednesday night as K-W United took a shock lead against Portuguese giant Sporting Lisbon in a friendly. The professional team scored in the 76th and 77th minutes to pull out a 2-1 victory.

USL SUPER-20

Marquette forward David Selvaggi and high school goalkeeper Adrian Remeniuk, who has committed to UW for 2014, played in both matches as the Chicago Fire lost their first two matches at the USL Super-20 Championship in Bradenton, Fla.

The reigning champion Fire lost to Alamo SC 1-0 on Thursday, with the Texas side converting a penalty kick after a Chicago defender was sent off in the 29th minute. Michigan's Force FC Academy then beat the Fire 3-2 on Friday, making Saturday's match against Massachusetts' Western United Pioneers a battle for third place in Group D.

Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay's Billy Donovan and his St. Louis Scott Gallagher team clinched a spot in the semifinals by winning their first two Group A games: They beat Pennsylvania's Junior Lone Star FC 3-2 on Thursday and slipped past host IMG Academy 2-1 on Friday. Donovan and James Routledge, who redshirted as a freshman at Marquette last fall but has since transferred to Missouri State, played in both matches.

No other teams in Group A won over the first two days, meaning Scott Gallagher already had first place wrapped up before losing to Connecticut's Beachside SC 7-0 in their pool finale Saturday morning. The semifinals are later Saturday, with the final scheduled for Sunday.

USL W-LEAGUE

UW's Kinley McNicoll played the full 90 minutes and had an assist as the Ottawa Fury routed the Toronto Lynx 5-1 on Wednesday night to advance to the W-League Central Conference final.

The Fury (7-3-2) will play at the top-seeded Laval Comets (8-1-3) on Saturday – UW's Genevieve Richard led the league with six shutouts and ranked second with a 0.545 goals-against average for the Comets during the regular season.

Saturday's winner advances to the W-League Championship from July 26 to 28 in Bradenton, Fla.

MADISON SOCCER ASSOCIATION

Heath Corrigan scored the lone goal in the 71st minute and Chad Stivers posted the clean sheet as fourth-seeded Madison United Over-30s held off No. 5 seed Madison Hotspur 1-0 in the Madison Soccer Association Division 2 play-in game Wednesday night at Elver Park.

United Over-30s (6-3-1) will take on top-seeded Chivas (8-1-0) in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Sunday, the first of four MSA semifinals at Warner Park Field 1. United Over-30s handed Chivas their only loss, 2-1 in a season opener back on April 28, and are one of three teams from the club to advance to the semifinals.

MADISON SOCCER ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
DIVISION 1
At Warner Park Field 1
Sunday, July 21
Semifinals
No. 1 Paradigm (8-2-0) vs. No. 4 Deportivo (4-5-0), 3 p.m.
No. 2 Madison United (6-2-2) vs. No. 3 Madison Fire (5-1-3), 5 p.m.
Championship
Friday, July 26
Semifinal winners, 8 p.m.

DIVISION 2
Wednesday's play-in game
No. 4 Madison United Over-30 1, No. 5 Madison Hotspur 0
At Warner Park Field 1
Sunday, July 21
Semifinals
No. 1 Chivas (8-1-0) vs. No. 4 Madison United Over-30 (6-3-1), 11 a.m.
No. 2 Sporting 1836 (7-2-0) vs. No. 3 Madison United Juniors (6-3-0), 1 p.m.
Championship
Friday, July 26
Semifinal winners, 6 p.m.