Apple Valley boys soccer team has won the 2010 FieldTurf award for the Great Lakes Region High School Team of the Year. Apple Valley went undefeated this year for the second consecutive year and ended the season 24-0-0. The team ended the season with their 48th consecutive win started in August of 2009.

While we await the final release of the MLS schedule, second-division USL Pro announced their schedule and division alignments on Friday, emphasizing the league's accessibility and stability. The press release from USL Pro emphasizes that six of their franchises have more than ten years of operational experience.

While we await the final release of the MLS schedule, second-division USL Pro announced their schedule and division alignments on Friday, emphasizing the league's accessibility and stability. The press release from USL Pro emphasizes that six of their franchises have more than ten years of operational experience.

The USL announced their 2011 USL PRO schedule on Friday. The leagues conference alignments are also set as each team will play at 24 game schedule.

The regular season opens on Saturday, April 2 when expansion team Orlando City will play the Richmond Kickers at City Stadium.

COLUMBUS, Ohio Columbus Crew signed forward Tom Heinemann to a multi-year contract Friday. Heinemann joins the Crew after spending the last two years with the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer Leagues and Carolina RailHawks of the NASL. He trained with the Crew briefly early in the 2009 preseason.

Orlando City, the new pro soccer team in town, released their schedule today for the 2011 season.

The club will play 24 matches, 12 at home and 12 on the road, in its inaugural season.

Orlando City will play in the USL Pro league. A venue for home games has not been announced yet.

Date Home/Away Opponent Time 2-Apr Away Richmond Kickers TBD 9-Apr Home FC New York 7:35 PM 16-Apr Away Charlotte Eagles 7:00 PM 22-Apr Home Puerto Rico United 7:35 PM 30-Apr Away FC New York TBD 7-May Away Dayton Dutch Lions 7:30 PM 14-May Home Pittsburgh Riverhounds 7:35 PM 20-May Away Rochester Rhinos 7:30 PM 22-May Away Harrisburg City Islanders 3:00 PM 25-May Home Richmond Kickers 7:05 PM 2-Jun Home Charlotte Eagles 7:05 PM 4-Jun Away Wilmington Hammerheads TBD 10-Jun Home FC Barracuda of Antigua 7:35 PM 18-Jun Home Wilmington Hammerheads 7:35 PM 24-Jun Away River Plate Puerto Rico 8:00 PM 26-Jun Away FC Barracuda of Antigua TBD 29-Jun Home Sevilla FC Puerto Rico 7:35 PM 1-Jul Away Pittsburgh Riverhounds 7:00 PM 3-Jul Away Rochester Rhinos TBD 8-Jul Home Dayton Dutch Lions 7:35 PM 9-Jul Away Charleston Battery 7:30 PM 16-Jul Home Rochester Rhinos 7:35 PM 6-Aug Home Charleston Battery 7:35 PM 12-Aug Home Harrisburg City Islanders 7:35 PM

The Fire announced their pre-season schedule today. Players are due to report to Toyota Park on Thursday before starting training next week at the Bridgeview Sports Dome. Among the players reporting will be new additions Cory Gibbs, Daniel Paladini, Josip Mikulic, Jalil Anibaba, Jason Herrick, Jon Conway, Davis Paul, Yannick Salmon, Amani Walker, Sam Arthur, and Open Try-Out winner Pari Pantazopoulos.

USL PRO, the organization that will run D3 soccer in the United States and Caribbean for the 2011 season, announced the playoff format for their fifteen-team league today from their Tampa, Florida headquarters. Eight of the league's fifteen teams will be eligible for the post-season playoffs.

While some MLS teams are starting their pre-season training today, the Chicago Fire sent out a press release with their entire pre-season schedule. Can you believe that there are just 61 days until the start of the 2011 season?

Highlights include the Carolina Challenge Cup that is going to be hosted by the Charleston Battery in Charleston, South Carolina.

Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images

Steve Zakuani and team return to training today. The goal is simple - score more, win more, lift a trophy.

View full size photo »

Today there were nearly 40 players in Seattle Sounders first day of full camp.

By AVI CREDITOR

After putting last season's historically bad campaign in the rear-view mirror, D.C. United is aiming for a fresh start with Ben Olsen at the helm of a team on a mission.

With a bevy of new faces in camp and a fresh attitude to boot, expectations of a vast improvement are abound in the nation's capital.

This has been a busy week for USL PRO as they prepare for the upcoming D3 season. The fifteen team league will kick off its 2011 season on Saturday, April 2 with two matches featuring International Division rivals River Plate Puerto Rico taking on Sevilla FC Puerto Rico while the new SC Orlando City club debuts against the two -time USL-2 regular season champions, the Richmond Kickers.