Wisconsin Soccer Central

Alec Philippe added his name to a prestigious list of Milwaukee Marquette boys soccer alums last week, as the senior forward was named the Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year for the 2015-16 school year.

Philippe is now eligible for the national Gatorade Player of the Year Award, which will be announced in May. Hilltoppers players have earned the state award 10 times in its 31-year history, the most of any program.

The 6-foot-1 Philippe, who signed a national letter intent to play at NCAA Division I Wright State earlier this month, had 27 goals and 12 assists last fall in helping lead Marquette (20-2-0) to its record 11th WIAA Division 1 state championship. He finished his two-year varsity career with 54 goals, 21 assists and two state titles.

"Philippe is fast, explosive and technically sound,” Menomonee Falls coach Scott Stein said in a news release announcing the award. "You have to account for him every second on the pitch. He's also a very unselfish player who makes his teammates better."

Philippe previously was named a high school All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, co-State Player of the Year by the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel area Player of the Year.

* – Named Gatorade National Player of the Year

• The National Federation of State High School Associations announced two rules changes for prep soccer that will go into effect in the 2016-17 season, one concerning the offside rule and the other dealing with infractions by players attempting penalty kicks. "The rules are in fairly decent shape," said Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials and liaison to the organization's Soccer Rules Committee. "The committee wasn’t looking to make wholesale changes. They were looking at existing rules and making sure they reflected today’s trends in the playing of the game." Under the current rules, which will continue to be used for this spring's girls season, an attacking player who is in an offside position at the time the ball is played by a teammate, can be penalized and ruled offside even if the ball comes off a defender who deliberately played it. That will no longer be the case starting next fall; the new NFHS rule will align with FIFA's Law 11 addressing the same situation. Also, any violation by a player attempting a penalty kick will be treated the same as one committed by any other member of the attacking team. The current rules call for the kick to be retaken if the kicker violates a rule, but the NFHS rules committee felt that all attacking team violations during a penalty kick should be treated equally. Read more about the changes

Do you know of other prep coaching changes for the 2016 season? Let us know at wisconsinsoccercentral@gmail.com