Wisconsin Soccer Central

After a 17-year career at UW-Parkside, during which time he built the Rangers into one of the nation's top NCAA Division II women's soccer programs, Troy Fabiano (Kenosha Bradford) will get the chance to build a Division I program.

Fabiano was named coach at UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 9, succeeding Greg Henschel (Brookfield East/UW-Oshkosh) and becoming the eighth coach in program history.

"It's a great opportunity for me and my family," Fabiano said in a news release. "Throughout the process, I was really impressed with everybody in the athletic department and their vision for the program moving forward.
"It was very noticeable how tightly knit the Panther community is and the support the coaches have to be successful, both on and off the field."

The school  announced in November that it wouldn't renew Henschel's contract after he led the Panthers to a 24-28-4 record in three seasons. UW-Milwaukee was 6-10-2 overall and 2-4-2 in the Horizon League last fall – the Panthers failed to qualify for the league tournament, and it marked the first time they've had a losing record in league play in the 21 seasons in which they've played in a conference.

The 3rd Man In website, citing unnamed sources, reported that Fabiano was selected for the position over University of Wisconsin assistant Kristen Weiss, who was an assistant for the Panthers in 2012. Northwestern assistant David Nikolic (Milwaukee/UW-Milwaukee), who was an assistant at UWM from 1994 to 2011, confirmed that he also interviewed for the position but withdrew from consideration.

Fabiano led Parkside to a 222-74-29 record, 11 NCAA tournament appearances, 15 regular-season conference titles and 10 league tournament championships. The Rangers went 5-11-0 in his first season in 1998, then recorded 16 consecutive winning seasons and won at least 10 games in each of his final 15 years at the helm.

"We are very excited to have someone with Troy's tremendous experience join our team," UWM athletic director Amanda Braun said. "He is a great coach and recruiter and he is a proven winner. We're looking forward to having him in Milwaukee working as an educator and leader for our young women."

Fabiano had a standout college career at Robert Morris (Pa.), making the All-Northeast Conference first team each of his four seasons and collecting Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1993. He played professionally with the Pittsburgh Stingers and Milwaukee Wave indoors and outdoors with the Milwaukee Rampage before starting his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater.

In 1995, he served as the interim head coach of the Eastern Illinois men's program and then joined Parkside in 1996 as an assistant to Oscar Suman. Fabiano went on to be named Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year three times and also was the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2008, '10 and '14.

"We want to thank Coach Fabiano for building the UW-Parkside women's soccer team into one of the best programs in the country," Parkside athletic director Tamie Falk-Day said in a news release. "He deserves the opportunity to build a Division I program, and we wish him continued success."

• Notre Dame junior midfielder Patrick Hodan (Milwaukee Marquette) was named to the second team of the Soccer America Men's MVPs for 2014, and UW sophomore midfielder Rose Lavelle was a second-team choice for the women's awards.
• Milwaukee School of Engineering junior midfielder Logan Andryk (Milwaukee Marquette) made the first team of the D3Soccer.com Men's All-American team, while Lake Forest (Ill.) junior forward Michelle Greeneway (Sheboygan North) was a third-team choice on the women's team selected by the website.
• Michelle Jacob (Neenah/UW-Stevens Point) will be the first soccer player inducted into the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, as she was named to the 30-member Class of 2015. Jacob helped lead the Pointers to a 75-15-2 record and conference titles and NCAA Division III tournament berths in each of her seasons (1998 to 2001), and made the first team of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division III All-American team and was the conference player of the year as a senior. Jacob, who is now the Michigan Tech women's coach, and her fellow inductees will be honored Aug. 1 at a banquet at UW-Platteville. This year's class will be the first inductees since the inaugural Class of 2012.