Today Sporting Kansas City announced a portion of their preseason schedule. As expected, the team will be making a return Arizona, but as announced previously will not be competing in the Desert Cup, instead they'll also spend part of preseason in Orlando for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic.
Preseason kicks off on January 19th, a week after the MLS SuperDraft, and 2 days after the Supplemental draft, where the team has a combined seven draft picks, with physicals.

State players collected several individual awards Tuesday as the first college women's soccer all-conference teams of the season were announced.

UW-Milwaukee dominated the Horizon League honors: Senior forward Sarah Hagen (Appleton North) was named the league's Player of the Year for a record third consecutive season and was the Offensive Player of the Year, junior goalkeeper Jamie Forbes was the co-Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year, freshman defender Amy Kauffung (Hartland Arrowhead) was the Newcomer of the Year and Michael Moynihan was the Coach of the Year.

Halfway through the Big Ten Conference men's soccer season, things have gone perfectly for the University of Wisconsin.

Chris Prince scored his fourth goal of the season in the 33rd minute and fellow sophomore Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) made two saves for the shutout as the Badgers blanked Michigan State 1-0 Sunday afternoon at the McClimon Complex for their third straight win to open conference play.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Sporting Kansas City closed out their regular season home schedule today with a 2-0 win over the Red Bulls, a standing room only crowd of just under 20,000 helped KC to make the new record for average attendance in a season that much higher for KC. Here's a look at the rankings after 16 games.

After handing then-No. 6 Indiana its first loss of the season Sunday, the University of Wisconsin men's soccer team has caught the eye of coaches and media in the Big Ten Conference the nation alike.

Midfielder Nick Janus and goalkeeper Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) collected individual awards in the wake of the Badgers' 2-0 win over the Hoosiers, while UW moved into two national rankings after its first win over Indiana in 16 years.

The last time the University of Wisconsin men's soccer team beat Indiana, most of the current Badger players were toddlers.

But they're all grown up now and helping the UW program continue to develop. They made their biggest statement yet Sunday afternoon.

Tomislav Zadro and Nick Janus scored and Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) saved a penalty kick as the Badgers knocked off the sixth-ranked Hoosiers 2-0 in a Big Ten Conference match watched by 1,194 fans at the McClimon Complex, their first win in the series since 1995.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Another game in the books, another decent night of attendance at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, 17,838. The 2011 season extends it's lead, and with the finale against New York already nearly a sell out, KC is very likely to pass the 18,000 attendance mark for this season.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
With just 2 home game left in the season, Sporting KC has set a record for average attendance. No one could show up for the team's final two matches against Columbus and New York, and KC would still set an attendance record this season. KC's average if no one shows up the final two games of the season would be 15,589, topping the 15,573 that was set in the 2003 season.

The University of Wisconsin men's soccer team hardly gave Drake a shot at winning Friday night.

The Badgers limited the Bulldogs to just four shots in 90 minutes, and sophomores Nick Janus, Joey Tennyson (Menomonee Falls) and Trevor Wheeler scored in a 3-1 victory at the Illinois-Chicago Classic.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
The home stand is over, and it looked like the run had finally gotten to a lot of people, as the team had their lowest attendance of the season, 14,791 at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park yesterday for the game. Still, the 2011 season leads the way in attendance.

I'd been asked this question both via text and on Twitter, so I figured I'd add it here for those of you that A) don't have Twitter, and B) don't have my phone number.
With the way that results went today, Sporting KC sits tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with the Columbus Crew.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
KC set a new attendance high for a game at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park tonight in their 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy, pulling in 20,512, topping the old record set in the US Gold Cup game earlier this year by about 400. For a look at the attendance after 12 games check here.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
A record MLS crowd came out tonight at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park to see Sporting KC blow a late lead again to lose 3-2 to FC Dallas (more on that tomorrow). But the record 20,018 attendance got an exciting game, unfortunately it ended well for the wrong side.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Not horrible attendance wise for KC last night compared to KC's history, but I am a little disappointed that the attendance last night was only 15,352. Hopefully this coming Saturday with a home game we'll see a sell out. Check out the break down for the 11th home game of the season all time for KC.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
Wednesday night games, Kansas City's worst enemy it seems when it comes to attendance. Tonight was the second lowest attendance at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, the other being set on another Wednesday earlier this year. Still, though, the 2011 season remains the highest attended game through 10 games.

Henry: Cut Out to Be a Captain?Perusing Twitter yesterday I came across an article by Alex Labidou on Goal.com in which Thierry Henry expressed frustration with a number of different aspects of Major League Soccer, including travel and the continued presence of Field Turf in several markets. I can sympathize with Henry on both points.

KC plays their second home game of the season tomorrow when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes at LiveSTRONG Sporting Park. The Quakes come into the game having not lost since April 30th to the Philadelphia Union. That's a span of 8 games in all competitions, 6 in league play, including last week's 4-2 win in DC.

The worst thing about tonight's game was not the Michael Kennedy no-PK call, it was the response by the Cauldron. I've been in the Cauldron since it was in the corner of Arrowhead, section 114 and I've never really felt ashamed of being there. Tonight I did. Seriously disgraceful crap by multiple fans who felt it was alright to throw shit on the field after Kennedy blew the penalty call.

It seems like only yesterday I was posting my first thoughts via the tongue & cheek MLS Manifesto. The major gripe? As a Kansas City Spurs, err Wiz, err Wizards, err Sporting, supporter, I had grown up watching my heroes plod about in a cavernous and always empty American football stadium, Arrowhead.

The Madison 56ers' injury problems at center back have now enveloped the team's goalkeepers, too.

UW-Parkside's Ryan Onwukwe is expected to be sidelined for two weeks because of a dislocated finger suffered in training this week, while Kyle Dillman (Madison La Follette) likely will be out for at least two more weeks as he recovers from a broken finger.

I remember when Sky first happened. They showed American Football (then very fashionable in the UK), NBA basketball, WWF (wrestling), and all sorts else besides. It would have been amazing to have a dish, but Mum wasn't interested in that. She claimed that she didn't want a dish on the side of the house, and this may very well have been true, but I suspect that it was also true that we watched more than enough TV as it was, and the subscription fee (which I'd have been oblivious to) was not inconsiderable either.

The past two days, an interview done by Andrew Wiebe with Robb Heineman has been put up on the Sporting KC website. The first part of the interview talks about the new stadium, the roster, and preseason. There's nothing incredibly new in that part of the article. We again here about the young designated player that KC is still trying to get.