Wisconsin Soccer Central

FC Milwaukee dominated the Women's Premier Soccer League Midwest Conference honors, claiming all three individual awards and placing four players on the all-conference team.

Forward Sarah Hagen (Appleton North/UW-Milwaukee) was named conference player of the year, Leslie Deebach (UW-Milwaukee) shared the Goalkeeper of the Year award and Christian Lavers (UW) was lauded as Coach of the Year for the Nationals, who won the Midwest title and advanced to the this weekend's WPSL Final Four.

FC Milwaukee (9-1-1) plays the Boston Aztec Breakers Reserves (10-1-1) in a national semifinal at 5 p.m. Saturday in Richardson, Texas. 

David Madsen (Brookfield East/UW-Whitewater) stepped down after four seasons as the men's and women's coach at NCAA Division III Lakeland to become an assistant in the UW-Milwaukee women's program.

Madsen led the Muskies' men's team to a 23-43-4 overall record and an 18-20-3 mark in Northern Athletics Conference play, and posted a 31-44-1 overall record and a 21-25-1 mark with the women's squad. The Lakeland men went 8-7-2 in 2008, their first winning season since 1994.

Creighton's Ethan Finlay (Marshfield) set up three of his team's six goals on the day as the Chicago Fire went 1-1 on the opening day of the United Soccer Leagues Super-20 North American Finals at Sportscore II in Rockford, Ill.

Finlay had two assists and Calum Mallace (Marquette) scored as the Fire routed Georgia's Alpharetta United 5-0 to open the event. Finlay then set up their lone goal in a 1-1 draw with Connecticut's Beachside SC in the evening.

Jim Launder has coached teams in national semifinals and finals before, most famously leading the University of Wisconsin to the NCAA men's soccer championship in 1995.

He also was on the sideline when the Madison 56ers – then known as the Princeton-56ers – played in the National Premier Soccer League final in 2006, and coached the amateur team in the NPSL Final Four in 2007.

But the veteran coach says there's nothing from those previous trips that he'll stress to his team before Thursday night's NPSL semifinal against Chattanooga FC at City School Stadium in Madison, Ala. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.

Lauren Sesselmann (Green Bay Notre Dame) is back in Women's Professional Soccer, having re-signed with the Atlanta Beat earlier this month.

The former Purdue standout started the season as a defender with the expansion team and started the first three games, but was released May 31 as the Beat added several players who became free agents when Saint Louis Athletica folded. Coincidentally, Sesselmann was waived by Athletica during the preseason.