Wisconsin Soccer Central

The top club soccer teams from 13 Midwest states will converge on northeast Wisconsin this week.

More than 3,500 players from 200 teams – including 15 from the state – will take the fields at Scheels USA Youth Sports Complex in Appleton and at Southwest Park in De Pere for the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships.

It's the third time the regional tournament has been held in Wisconsin: Appleton and Neenah played host to it in 2006, while Appleton and De Pere also were joint hosts back in 2011.

Round-robin play kicks off Saturday and runs through Monday on 22 fields, 15 in Appleton and seven in De Pere.

The semifinals are Tuesday and regional finals are Wednesday – 10 of those matches, the Under-16 through Under-19 boys and girls games, will be streamed live on U.S. Youth Soccer's YouTube channel. Regional champions advance to the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, which are July 21 to 26 in Tulsa, Okla.

All but one of the state teams in the Region II tournament won Wisconsin State Championships, either last month or last fall. The lone exception is the Under-19 Rush Wisconsin girls team, which qualified as a wild card.

SC Waukesha leads the state contingent with six regional qualifiers, plus the combined SC Waukesha-Strike FC Wisconsin Under-19 girls team. North Shore United has two teams at regionals, while Strike FC has one side plus the combined team. ACE Milwaukee, Bavarians, FC Wisconsin, Madison FC and Rush Wisconsin each have one team apiece.

Full schedules, results, standings