Wisconsin Soccer Central

For the second straight season, a Wisconsin native is playing on the backline for English non-league club Eccleshill United.

Erik Berkowitz (Racine St. Catherine's) has made at least five starts at left back for the team, which is 10-5-1 and stand sixth in the 22-team Northern Counties East Football League Division One – the 10th division of English soccer.

Berkowitz was an All-Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection as a junior and senior at NCAA Division III Loras (Iowa) and was named a third-team All-American by D3Soccer.com last fall. He joined Eccleshill United through the club's connection with the Richmond International Academic & Soccer Academy.

As part of the RIASA program, Berkowitz also is pursuing a post-graduate degree at Leeds Beckett University. There have been Wisconsin players at RIASA for at least the past three seasons: midfielder Caleb Burst (Bayfield) played in 2012-13 and Taylor Diem (Middleton) and Malcolm Calbert (Stoughton) did the same in 2013-14.

Diem was a regular at center back for Eccleshill United last season as the club finished fourth in NCEL Division One.

Berkowitz also has made some appearances with Eccleshill Leeds, the club's reserve team that plays in the Lancashire Football League East Division. He was named Man of the Match for Eccleshill Leeds in a 4-1 loss to Brighouse Town on Oct. 17, then earned the same honor in Eccleshill United's 5-2 loss to Farsley AFC on Oct. 29.