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Prep notes: WIAA switches to 45-minute halves, changes OT rules

01/29/2014, 9:45pm CST
By ERIC ANDERSON
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Prep  soccer games in Wisconsin will be longer – and potentially shorter, too, in some cases – starting next fall.

The WIAA Board of Control on Wednesday approved plans to experiment with 45-minute halves and eliminate overtime during regular-season varsity matches in the 2014-15 seasons. The WIAA already has a rule that prohibits overtime for junior varsity and freshman games.

Meanwhile, overtime will still be played in playoff games, but the "golden goal" format that was implemented in 1994 has been eliminated. Instead, teams will play two full 10-minute overtimes, regardless of scoring, before the possibility of penalty kicks.

The National Federation of State High School Associations must grant the WIAA a waiver to allow the 45-minute halves, which would add 10 minutes of regulation play to each match and would be a one-year experiment for both boys and girls soccer.

  • More changes will take effect starting in 2015, as the boys season will start and end one week later and regional semifinals and finals will be played on Thursdays and Saturdays – under the current format, those games are played on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
  • The WIAA Board also gave final approval to a conference realignment plan that will restructure nine leagues in the Green Bay and Fox Valley areas starting in the 2015-16 school year and will have an impact on boys and girls soccer. Old and new conference setups (pdf)
  • Division 3 state champion Ashland won the team sportsmanship award for last fall's WIAA state boys soccer tournament.
  • Fond du Lac boys and girls coach Greg Winkler was elected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Board of Directors as the boys high school representative. Winkler has led the Cardinals' boys program since 1998 and took over as girls coach in 2006, and also is an assistant athletic director at the school. He was named the NSCAA Youth Boys National Coach of the Year for 2012.

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