Wisconsin Soccer Central

High school

Northern Badger changes? It appears likely Lodi will depart the Northern Badger Conference one year earlier than expected.

The school’s soccer teams joined the conference three years ago when Lodi moved to the South Central Conference, which does not sponsor the sport, and the Badger split into divisions.

That agreement was to have the Blue Devils play in the Northern Badger for four years, but the school requested permission to leave a year early to re-join the Capitol Area Conference – in the latest round of realignment, the WIAA sent the school back to the Capitol for all sports starting in the 2006-07 school year.

Conference athletic directors gave their go-ahead to the early departure at their most recent meeting; approval is still needed from conference principals.

The Lodi programs have struggled during their time in the Northern Badger – the girls team is 13-30-1 overall and 1-11 in the conference over the last two years; the Blue Devils boys are 3-35-1 overall (all of those wins coming in 2004) and 0-12 in the conference over the same time.

The school cited the teams' lack of competitiveness as the main reason for the request, along with a decline in participation levels.

The open spot created by Lodi's exit might not be empty for very long – at least when it comes to the boys season.

Wisconsin Dells, which was an independent as it played a varsity schedule for the first time in fall 2004, expressed interest in joining the Northern Badger starting in the 2006 season.

All-Americans: Middleton senior midfielder Tyler Guse, named state player of the year by the WSCA after leading the Cardinals to their first WIAA Division 1 state title, was named to the NSCAA/adidas High School All-American team.

Guse, a Yale recruit who had eight goals and 16 assists for 32 points this season, was one of five members of the team also honored as an NSCAA Scholar All-American.

Brookfield Central senior midfielder Marti Desjarlais was a repeat selection on the girls All-American team.

Clubs

ODP, part I: Ten state players and one former state player were named to the Region II rosters for the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program Thanksgiving Interregionals.

Boys (Nov. 26 to 29 in Austin, Texas) – 1987 team: Trevor Banks (Madison) and Brian Martin (Whitefish Bay); 1988 team: Tim Loeffler (Grafton), Andrew Adlard (New Berlin) and Billy Von Rueden (Mequon); 1990 team: Brice Carr (Mequon) and Ethan Finlay (Marshfield). Martin, Loeffler, Adlard and Carr made the 18-player all-star teams for their respective age groups.

Girls (Nov. 21 to 26 in Boca Raton, Fla.) – 1987 team: Kate Megna (Middleton). 1988 team: Kelly Wepking (Pleasant Prairie); 1990 team: Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon). Former Cedarburg player Casey Nogueira, who now lives in Raleigh, N.C., played for the Region III 1989 team.

ODP, part II: Ten state boys players were chosen to participate in Super Y League ODP camps in January in Cocoa, Fla. All players were named to the West teams.

U-17 – D Greg Snapper (Madison Capital Elite). U-16 – F Andrew Stadler (Mequon United), D Von Rueden. U-15 – F Josh Thiermann (Madison Capital Elite), F George Apfelbach (Mequon United), GK Andrew Seter (Mequon United). U-14 –M Ben Ceder (Madison Capital Elite), D Ben Howell (Madison Capital Elite), M Robert Boyd (Mequon United). U-13 – F Nicholas Zabala (Mequon United).

Two more players from Madison Capital Elite were named alternates for the camp: M Ross Fedenia (U-17) and D Ryan Zurbuchen (U-15).

U.S. national teams

USWNT: Madison native Lindsay Tarpley was a part of history Dec. 8, as she came on for midfielder Julie Foudy in the 84th minute of the 5-0 victory over Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., that was the farewell game for the legendary trio of Foudy, Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett.

Tarpley had a tough junior season at North Carolina this fall, missing much of the year because of a broken right leg and finishing with totals of 5-4-14 in 14 games (11 starts).

She also had totals of 8-3-19 in 25 games (13 starts) with the national team, including a goal in the 2-1 overtime victory over Brazil in the gold-medal game at the Athens Olympics.

Midfielder Leslie Osborne, a Menomonee Falls native who plays at Santa Clara, made nine appearances (six starts) for the national team in 2004.

U-20 men: Waukesha native Tim Ward, a defender playing collegiately at Saint Louis, was one of 22 players called into training with the U.S. Under-20 national team. The U-20 team is preparing for the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, which is Jan. 12 to 16 at the Home Depot Center.

U-15 boys: Carr played for the U.S. Under-15 national team in the U-16 division of the Nike Friendlies Dec. 2 to 5 in Bradenton, Fla.

Professional

England: There aren’t too many Americans playing abroad, and even fewer in the top leagues. But Green Bay native Jay Demerit, 24, has enjoyed a breakthrough season for Watford in the Championship – the division right below the English Premier League.

Demerit, who played at Bay Port High School and Illinois-Chicago, was signed by Watford in August after a stint at non-league Northwood FC. He has appeared in nine games, playing the full 90 minutes in eight of them for middle-of-the-table Watford.

Demerit has played in all four matches as Watford has made a surprising run to the League Cup quarterfinals – they beat EPL club Southampton 5-2 in the a fourth round to earn a spot against Liverpool in the two-leg semifinals Jan. 1 and Jan. 25. The winner advances to play Chelsea or Manchester United in the final.

MLS: UW midfielder Nick Van Sicklen, a former Madison West player, UW-Milwaukee forward Antou Jallow and Marquette forward Chris Lee were invited to participate in the Major League Soccer Combine Jan. 8 to 11 at the Home Depot Center. The MLS SuperDraft is Jan. 14.

Four players with state ties played in MLS in 2004: Chicago Fire midfielder Jesse Marsch (Racine native), Columbus Crew midfielder-defender Tony Sanneh (UW-Milwaukee) and San Jose Earthquakes defender Wes Hart (UW) and midfielder Tighe Dombrowski (West Allis native, UW-Milwaukee).