The FC Wisconsin Eclipse U15-U18 teams are traveling to Michigan this weekend for key Midwest Conference matches against the Michigan Hawks and Vardar SC.  The Michigan clubs will return the favor and come to Wisconsin the weekend of November 10-11 to complete the tie.

The Michigan Hawks are one of the biggest youth soccer powerhouses in the ECNL.  During the 2011-2012 ECNL season, the Michigan Hawks finished in the top 5 of the ECNL Overall Club Rankings, as well as having one ECNL National Champion (the U18 Girls).  Vardar SC also has a long history of success in girls competition - making this weekend one of the most anticipated of the season.

"The trip to Michigan is always one of the toughest weekends of the year," said Monica White.  "Playing against the Hawks and Vardar provides a great measurement of where the players and teams are in their development, and is an exciting opportunity.   This is why we are in the ECNL - to play the best."

The weekend is a busy action all across the ECNL Midwest Conference , and the results will help bring more clarity to the early-season conference standings.  Eclipse Select (IL) will also be traveling to Michigan this weekend to play Hawks and Vardar at most age groups.

"The teams have had a very good few weeks of training, and are ready for the challenge" said Christian Lavers.  "One of the benefits of ECNL competition is not only the quality of the competition and the games, but the fact that the games are spread out over the calendar to provide opportunity for more frequent and intense training to prepare, and more time for players to recover between games."  

The FC Wisconsin Eclipse teams had last weekend off, as the much anticipated ECNL Eclipse Derby in Wisconsin was post-poned until November 4 due to inclimate weather.  Both Vardar and Hawks also had the weekend off - so all teams will be eagerly anticipating the kick-offs tomorrow.