Ever since Forward Madison, the city’s men’s professional soccer team, took the field in 2019, two things have been on the mind of fans: a USL League One title, and women’s soccer in Madison.
At least one of those things will finally happen this year, as Rally Madison begins its inaugural season tomorrow night, with a home opener set for Saturday.
Rally Madison will compete in the USL W League, a high-level pre-professional league with more than 90 teams across the country. Most of the players are still competing on college teams, with at least one still in high school – 16-year-old goalkeeper Malia Zillman of Waunakee.
“I think we have a big, big platform to make girls feel more supported in the sport, especially around town,” Zillman said in an interview last week at Breese Stevens Field, where the team will play its home games. ”My goal is to inspire the youth.”
The team
Nearly every Rally Madison player has some Wisconsin ties, whether it’s a Madison native like striker Sonoma Bever, a handful of Muskego alumni who won four straight state titles, or Illinois native and Philippine national team striker Megan Murray, who plays for Marquette.
“I think being able to play on a team that’s local, that’s in Wisconsin, being Wisconsin-born and raised, I think it’s such a cool, cool opportunity,” said striker Kayla Budish, a Brookfield native who currently plays for Purdue.
Due to a compact schedule – 12 league matches in just five weeks – head coach Giuliano Oliviero has put together a larger-than-usual roster, and said fans can expect to see a lot of different players over the course of the season.
“We’re going to need everybody,” he said. “We’ve got a large roster, and a lot of these girls are going back to their colleges, and the one thing a college coach does not want is an overused player. So we have a big roster, and you know we’re gonna need everyone to get this done.”
Soccer is a small world, and many of the players have encountered each other at one time or another. Still, putting together a team in a hurry – they’ll have just a week’s worth of practices under their belt when they take on River Light FC Wednesday night in Aurora, Illinois – can pose a challenge in finding team cohesion.
But Zillman said that hasn’t been an issue.
“Honestly, I’d say it’s going fantastic. I mean, for the amount of diversity, college-wise, we have on the team, everyone’s been playing like we’ve known each other for months now, and it’s really fluid, honestly,” she said. “Everyone’s here to get better, but at the end of the day … we all kind of have one end goal, and that’s to win.”
The new team got its winning underway Friday, with a 2-0 exhibition victory over Chicago House from the Women’s Premier Soccer League.
The league
USL W League is one of two women’s leagues operated by United Soccer League, the other being the professional USL Super League.
Madison will compete in the Heartland Division, with Edgewater Castle (Chicago), River Light (Aurora, IL), Minnesota Aurora, Rochester (MN) FC, RKC (Racine/Kenosha), Sioux Falls City and Rockford Raptors.
Minnesota Aurora has been the team to beat in this division, and that’s proven hard to do; in their four years in existence, they’ve won the division all four times.
The W League season runs from mid-May through late June. Teams across the country are divided into 16 divisions, and the winners of each division enter a knockout national playoff through July.
The environment
On the men’s side, Forward Madison supporters have developed a reputation for creating an exciting, noisy game day atmosphere, led by The Flock, the club’s official supporter group.
The new independent supporter’s group for Rally, called The Rose Guard, hopes to do the same for the women.
“I think Rally Madison has something that a lot of these other organizations don’t have, and it’s a great fan base, and it’s a professional environment, and our players deserve to play in front of that,” Oliviero said.
“I think the atmosphere that we’re going to be able to help create for a lot of these players is going to be really unique,” Rally Madison General Manager Kyler Donovan said.
Rose Guard cofounder Lisette Venegas said the friendly match against Chicago House was a good test run for the fans.
“I think it was something that we haven’t seen. It was very different from a Forward game,” she said, noting especially the number of young girls in the crowd. “There was just a happy feeling, like an excitement around the place that was just different.”
Donovan said the club expects some overlap between Rally and Forward fan bases, but perhaps less than you’d think; he estimates that about two-thirds of Rally’s 1,200 season ticket holders are not Forward Madison season ticket holders.
“There’s a new demographic that I think is coming out to some of these games,” Donovan said. “Maybe this is their first time coming to a soccer match, but they’re here for women’s sports, and that’s amazing.”
Games will be streamed live on Sportsengine, with each home team producing its own telecast. That gives the club another opportunity to develop young talent, this time in the broadcast booth. The club has hired Ella Meninno and Kamron Kaiser to call the games.
“This is all pre-professional and developmental leagues, it’s a good chance to do that everywhere, not just on the field,” Donovan said.
What it means
Regardless of the results, those involved said the presence of the team will have a positive impact in the community, especially among younger girls.
“I was once in their shoes, and now they see us out here, and they can have something to strive for, look forward to, and people to emulate, and just look up to,” Budish said.
And the club will allow them to do more than just aspire, with the addition last year of a youth program and academy for young players all the way through their high school years. Both the boys and girls youth programs are under the Forward Madison brand for now (so parents wouldn’t have to buy new uniforms) but the girls youth teams will fully embrace the Rally brand next fall.
“It’ll be a nice way for girls to know that they can work their way up to the Rally team,” Venegas said.
“I think women’s sports is becoming such a bigger thing on the world stage,” Venegas added. “I just think people do have to get out there and experience it at least once, and they’ll be back for sure.”
Rally Madison’s first match is Wednesday, May 20, at 6 p.m. and will stream live at this link. The home opener is Saturday, May 23, at 6 p.m. Tickets are available here and the game will stream live at this link. Keep up with the team through player interviews, analysis and more on the 608 Soccer podcast, at YouTube.com/@608Soccer or on your favorite podcast app.
Here’s the full schedule. Home matches are in bold.
- Wed May 20 7 pm at River Light FC
- Sat May 23 6 pm vs Minnesota Aurora
- Wed May 27 7 pm at RKC Third Coast
- Sun May 31 3 pm at Sioux Falls City
- Thu June 4 7 pm at Minnesota Aurora
- Tue June 9 7 pm vs River Light FC
- Fri June 12 6 pm vs Rochester FC
- Sun June 14 6 pm at Rockford Raptors
- Tue June 16 7 pm at Edgewater Castle
- Fri June 19 7 pm vs Rockford Raptors
- Wed June 24 7 pm vs RKC Third Coast
- Fri June 26 7 pm vs Edgewater Castle
