Wisconsin Soccer Central

So far, Andrija Novakovich (Muskego) is certainly enjoying 2017.

The 20-year-old striker continued his fine run of form for the Reading Under-23 team on Monday, scoring twice as the Royals rolled past visiting Birmingham City 4-1 in a Premier League Cup group match at Adams Park. (Watch highlights below)

Novakovich has nine goals in 21 appearances (20 starts) in all competitions for the Under-23 side this season, including five goals in four matches this month.

He scored the opener in Monday's match, getting the ball from Ramarni Medford Smith on the left side after some fine work by the fullback, working into the box and firing between two defenders and past Birmingham City goalkeeper Connal Trueman to the far post in the 6th minute.

Novakovich was influential in the attack throughout for Reading, which led 2-1 in the 75th when he added his second of the day. Receiving the ball on the left flank, he cut into the box and beat a defender and then slotted past Trueman from about 15 yards out.

Reading (3-0-1) leads Group H in the 32-team Premier League Cup with two matches remaining; the top two finishers in each group advance to the knockout round.

On Twitter: @AndrijaNovakov3

• Three players with state ties were selected in the National Women's Soccer League College Draft on Jan. 12 in Los Angeles, led by Rose Lavelle (UW). The three-time All-American midfielder was chosen first by the Boston Breakers, becoming the first UW athlete selected with the No. 1 pick in any professional draft. Lavelle, who wrapped up a 10-day training camp with the U.S. women's national team on Monday in Carson, Calif., finished her college career with 22 goals and 24 assists in 84 appearances (83 starts), and is tied for fourth in program history in assists, tied for seventh in games played and tied for fifth in starts. The Cincinnati native was the second former Badger picked in an NWSL draft, following former teammate Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East/UW), taken by the Chicago Red Stars in 2015. "The good thing for me about Rose is, she's been outstanding after college; she's done well with the youth national team; she's stood out in those games as well,"  Breakers president and general manager Lee Billiard told FourFourTwo in a behind-the-scenes articles (Read full article). "But watching her, watching the things that she does – the way she can just drop her shoulder and go beat someone – it's important to have a player like that for us." On Twitter: @roselavelle
• Marquette defender-midfielder Morgan Proffitt, last fall's Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year, went to the Red Stars with the second pick of the second round (No. 12 overall). Proffitt, a native of Columbus, Ind., who has been part of the last few U.S. Under-23 women's national team camps, played with the Red Stars Reserves in the Women’s Premier Soccer League the past two summers and had 10 goals and three assists in 85 games (83 starts) in her Golden Eagles career. She's the second Marquette alum drafted by an NWSL team, following Maegan Kelly (FC Kansas City, fourth round in 2014). On Twitter: @MorganMorg09
• Defender Rashida Beal (Germantown) was drafted by FC Kansas City with the fifth pick in the fourth round. Beal was a second-team All-American and the Big Ten Conference Defender of the Year last fall after helping Minnesota share the conference regular-season title and win its first Big Ten tournament title since 1995.
• Goalkeeper Charlie Lyon (Marquette), who spent the past two seasons with the Seattle Sounders, is on trial with Major League Soccer expansion side Minnesota United during the Loons' preseason camp in Arizona. Lyon, 24, made the game-day roster for three first-team matches during his time in Seattle, but saw all of his game action with Sounders 2 in the USL. He had a 1.95 goals-against average and one shutout last season, and posted four clean sheets for the reserve team in 2015. On Twitter: @Charlie_Lyon_
• Keeper Logan Ketterer (Racine Prairie School) was picked in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft, going to the Columbus Crew with the No. 71 overall selection last Tuesday. The 23-year-old Ketterer recorded 12 shutouts and a 1.37 goals-against average in 51 appearances during his career at Bradley, and was the 10th goalkeeper picked in the draft. He joins Zack Steffen and Brad Stuver as keepers on the Crew's preseason roster – veteran Steve Clark was Columbus' starting goalkeeper the past three years, but the club didn't pick up his option for 2017 and he signed with Danish club AC Horsens last week. The Crew started their preseason Monday with physicals and testing, then head to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where they will train and play several friendlies before returning to Columbus on Feb. 9. Listen to a conference call interview involving Ketterer below: