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On this date in Wisconsin soccer history
July 16, 2014: Giovani Hernandez converted a penalty kick in the final seconds of second-half stoppage time, giving Mexican club Club Deportivo Guadalajara a 1-1 draw against Premier League side Swansea City in a preseason friendly at Miller Park in Milwaukee. It was the first match between professional teams in Wisconsin in nearly nine years and drew 31,237 fans, likely the largest crowd to ever watch a soccer game in the state. Read our recap, with extended video highlights
May 14, 1954: Hans Flügel and Alfred Priessler had two goals apiece as Borussia Dortmund dropped Fortuna Düsseldorf 6-2 in a friendly between German sides watched by 5,705 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Fortuna, which won 6-0 when the teams met two weeks earlier in New York, tied it at 2 before Dortmund pulled away. Media reports indicated organizers were disappointed with the crowd; the most expensive ticket cost $3.30 and students were admitted for 50 cents.
May 11, 2009: Tosaint Ricketts (UW-Green Bay) scored his first professional goal in the 53rd minute, giving MyPa a 1-0 victory over HJK Helsinki in the Veikkausliiga, the top division in Finland. Ricketts, now 28, has gone on to play in Romania, Norway, Israel and Turkey during his pro career, though he is currently without a club, and is tied for sixth in Canadian national team history with 12 goals in 48 caps.
April 18, 1985: Wauwatosa East posted a 2-0 victory over Whitefish Bay in a prep girls soccer match, ending the Blue Dukes' 67-game winning streak. The streak isn't listed in the National Federation of State High School Associations Record Book, but appears to be the fourth-longest streak in national history. Bay, under the direction of coach Frank D'Amato, went 25-0-0 in 1983 and 23-0-0 in 1984 in winning the first two WIAA state titles, and made it three in a row by winning again in 1985.
Feb. 3, 2001: Two players with state ties were selected in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft in Davie, Fla. Narciso Fernandes (UW) was taken by the Kansas City Wizards with the 59th overall selection in the fifth round, while Miguel Saavedra (Milwaukee Tech) went to the Dallas Burn at No. 67 in the sixth round. Fernandes went on to play one match for the Wizards and played five seasons in the USL Premier Development League. Saavedra was traded to the Chicago Fire a year later and didn't make an MLS appearance, but did get into a CONCACAF Champions' Cup match for the team. He spent most of 2002 on loan to the Milwaukee Rampage, helping the team win the USL A-League title in what proved to be its final season.
Jan. 30, 2008: Kyle Zenoni (Hartland Arrowhead/UW-Milwaukee) came on in the 86th minute as Bolivia's La Paz FC lost to host Club Atlas 2-0 in the first leg of a Copa Libertadores series in Guadalajara, Mexico. It's believed Zenoni was the first, and to this date only, Wisconsin player to play in the South American region's Champions League. Zenoni also made a late appearance as La Paz won the second leg 1-0 but was eliminated 2-1 on aggregate.
Jan. 28, 1962: The Wisconsin State Soccer League launched the state's first indoor soccer league in 15 years, with matches played at Granville High School. A capacity crowd of 500 watched the eight games, according to a Milwaukee Journal report, and radio station WAW broadcast the games live. Bavarian SC's top team posted the biggest victory of the season's opening day, as Franz Strigenz scored four goals and Willi Wessels added three in a 7-0 rout of Milwaukee Sport Club.
Dec. 19, 1954: Scotsman Pete McMahon scored in each half, both on headers, as the Milwaukee Brewers blanked Italian Verdi 2-0 at Old Heidelberg Park to repeat as Wisconsin Soccer Association state champions.
Nov. 19, 1977: UW-Green Bay and Eastern Illinois played a marathon match in the regional finals of the NCAA Division II men's tournament in Charleston, Ill., with the Phoenix advancing on penalty kicks after neither team scored in regulation and four overtimes. Schellas Hyndman, who went on to an illustrious career at Southern Methodist and with FC Dallas in Major League Soccer, was the Panthers' coach at the time. Green Bay went on to lose to Seattle Pacific 2-1 in triple overtime in the national semifinals in Miami and fell to New Haven (Conn.) on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the third-place game.
Nov. 18, 2008: Jeff Rohrman (UW-Milwaukee) resigned after seven seasons as the University of Wisconsin men's coach. Rohrman, who was an assistant at national power Maryland for seven years before coming to Madison to replace Kalekeni Banda, led the Badgers to a 61-63-12 overall record and a 12-24-6 mark in Big Ten Conference play.
