(03/07/2023)

The Wisconsin Primary Amateur Soccer League (WPASL) are excited to announce that Dakota Young Stars FC (DYS) of Sioux Falls, SD have been accepted into the league for the 2023 season. 

Founded in 2013 and joining the UPSL in the spring of 2021, the Young Stars have provided a great platform for local players to play high-level soccer in South Dakota. After leaving the UPSL at the conclusion of last season, the Young Stars were looking for a new home for their pre-professional club. 

"The WPASL has some of the best amateur soccer teams in the Midwest. We love to compete against the best, and the WPASL continues to grow and adapt, like our club is doing with this move." - DYS President Eric Kollie

The league's expansion into South Dakota will not come without its challenges. DYS will be playing all of its 2023 WPASL league games on Wisconsin soil, with the shortest drive 5 hours (Sparta, WI) and the longest 7 hours (Merrill, WI). This travel seems long, but not for a club based out of South Dakota, with previous UPSL away games being 3-4 hours away. Taking advantage of the cheaper league costs the WPASL offers, the club will reallocate some of their budget to compensate for the increased travel. 

The WPASL will again consist of 7 teams for the 2023 season, but the format will be changed from the 2022 season. Five teams will play 10 games (5 home, 5 away), with a normal 3-1-0 points system. The remaining two teams will have a special structure to their season. Spartan FC will play each league opponent at home (5 games) and Dakota will play each league opponent on the road (5 games), with the two teams also playing each other once for a total of 6 games for each team. These two teams will be given 4 points for a win, 2 points for a tie and 0 points for a loss to compensate for the missed games. 

"This is a totally new system for us, but we felt that our purpose has always been to give opportunity and resources to clubs who don't have the option of another league. Dakota reached out to us and expressed that they wanted a higher-level league to participate in, but had no options in their area, and we felt that bringing in an established club with a fantastic competitive record in the UPSL would give our clubs an opportunity to grow and would increase the level of the league. All of our clubs have been on-board with this decision, and the league is hopeful that the format will give Spartan FC the boost they need to establish themselves and increase their competitiveness." - WPASL President Kaden Bergman

The Young Stars will be coached by club co-founder Karwo Solo, a former striker for the team who retired from soccer after the 2019 season. Karwo played for Washington High School before joining the Sioux Falls All-Stars, which led to the foundation of DYS in 2013. 

"After a fourth place finish in the UPSL Midwest-West last year, we feel conifident that we will be one of the top teams in the league and have added some key college-aged players to strenghten our roster ahead of this move. We know the WPASL has some strong clubs, and we're especially excited to see Bateaux FC on the pitch." - DYS Head Coach Karwo Solo

The WPASL will kick off on May 14th with the regular season ending on July 16th. The top four teams will compete in semi-finals the following week, with a championship game held on August 30th at a neutral site. The winner of the league, or highest-finishing Wisconsin team, will compete in the 2023 Wisconsin Challenge Cup, which will take place on August 5th and 6th in Wisconsin Dells, WI. A complete schedule and list of clubs will be released next week. 

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