Welcome to the 2023/24 season!! Salvo SC turns 5 this year, and we couldn't have made it to this point without all of the incredible contributions from our families, coaches, and staff. Read more about our wonderful staff below!

We are excited to kick off the 2023/24 season with all of you!! 

The 2023 Salvo WPSL season came to a close mid-July on a Sunday night in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The team was contending for a WPSL National Championship, after winning the WPSL Central Conference Finals in Milwaukee, WI the weekend before, but ended up coming just short and losing 1 - 0 to the Charlotte Eagles. 

Finishing second in the conference, Salvo advanced into the WPSL Playoffs due to the team that finished first defaulting and not wanting to travel to the away games in Milwaukee. The Sweet Sixteen game was a good matchup between Salvo and Milwaukee Torrent, who were wonderful hosts of the Central Conference Championships. 

Salvo dominated the game vs the Torrent, controlling the tempo and the possession most of the match, but couldn't find the back of the net. The game headed to extra time (exactly like the match before between Colorado Rapids, who ended up scoring in the dying moments of ET, and KC Current) under the lights and was still knotted at 0-0 after 120 minutes of play.

Heading to a penalty shootout, the team was feeling prepared as they walked through this exact scenario hours before in the warm up training that morning. Both teams were perfect through 5 shooters, so they headed to sudden death penalties. The Milwaukee Torrent crowd and drum line were loud as the 7th shooter stepped up to take her shot (Torrent decided to shoot first), but goalkeeper and current Salvo Girls Academy player Ayden Gagner dove to her left to make the save. This opened the door for Bella Meier, who currently plays at the University of Saint Thomas, to bury her shot and send us to the regional championship, and she did just that! The team was fired up to face Colorado Rapids for the second year in a row in the Conference Championship.

It was another hot day in Milwaukee, but Salvo was up to the task. The first half was very open, lots of transitional moments and chances for both sides, but the teams headed into the locker room knotted 0-0. The second half was a tactical masterclass from coach Greg Wheaton and the team, who stifled the strong attack from the Rapids and counterattacked quickly, with Khyah Harper netting two goals to bring the Conference Championship home for the first time in our 5 year history in the league! Her brace sent the team to Oklahoma where Salvo would compete for a National Championship.

A week and a long bus ride later, Salvo arrived at the Oklahoma State facilities to watch the USWNT kick off their Women's World Cup journey. The next morning, the team completely dominated the National Semifinal vs SC Del Sol with a decisive 2 - 0 win, goals coming from Khyah Harper again and Katelyn Beukle, also a current Salvo Girls Academy player. 

Salvo playing for a WPSL Championship is no accident, lots of time, resources, and talent make up a strong squad that is led by phenomenal coaches, and the team felt ready to bring home the big trophy to Minnesota. It was a tough battle against the Charlotte Eagles, both teams alike in their athleticism and movement off the ball. Salvo was awarded a free kick in the 70th minute and took it quickly, scoring and taking the lead in the National Championship, but unfortunately, the referee called it back over a controversial decision that he was impeding the play. Salvo conceded in the 94th minute off of a tough series of missed clearances, and ended up falling to the Charlotte Eagles. 

Advancing to the National Championship in the team's fifth year is an incredible accomplishment and testament to the effort and intentionality every single person involved in the organization brings every day. 

Stay tuned to the Salvo WPSL social media channels (@SalvoWPSL on X (Twitter) and Instagram) to stay connected with our players throughout their college and professional seasons this fall! 

June marks a big month for the youth soccer space - teams earning their way from winning state competitions such as State Cup or National League advance to Regional competitions to battle for National Championship contention. Salvo saw teams participate in US Club Regionals in Waukegan, IL; US Youth Soccer Regionals in St. Louis, MO; and Girls Academy Summer Showcase and Playoffs in Hammonton, NJ. Our teams represented Salvo well on the big stage, and we are so proud of all of them and our phenomenal coaching staff! We also want to thank our incredible soccer parents for making all of this happen, we wouldn't be able to participate in all of these awesome events without your support! Good luck to everyone as we wrap up the 2022-23 soccer season!

Salvo SC has dominated another WPSL season (our fifth overall bout) going 6-0-2 over the first 8 games of the season. Featuring players who all have grown up in Minnesota, and several Salvo SC Performance Team alumnae, Salvo has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in this league. The team is mostly comprised of Division I standouts who attend the University of Minnesota, South Dakota State, the University of Wisconsin, the University of St. Thomas, and many other prominent collegiate programs. In three out of the last four seasons, Salvo has been crowned Champions of the Northern Conference, and are chasing a repeat this Friday at home for the final game of the regular season. Admission is free, we would love to see you at Reynolds Field at Northwestern University in Roseville! Can't make it? Follow along on our social pages @SalvoWPSL on Instagram and Twitter!

Salvo Soccer Club joins organizations across the country in recognizing Juneteenth as an important day in our country’s history. Juneteenth, 2023 is the third annual federal holiday, has gone by several names: Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day. A day that freedom had to be enforced with force. While the Emancipation Proclamation deemed enslaved people legally free in Confederate states, it was the Thirteenth Amendment that ended slavery in the U.S. as national policy. 


News of the Emancipation Proclamation that went into effect on January 1, 1863, had not reached certain parts of the country still under Confederate control. Major General Granger read aloud General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”


To African Americans in Texas, this day became known as Juneteenth, which until recent years, many people in this country were unaware of. This day has steadily grown in awareness and become a part of the fabric of the country’s consciousness. Juneteenth is an opportunity to recognize those who survived slavery and whose freedom was delayed. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come as a country as well as acknowledge how far we still must go appreciating the milestones along the way.


CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS IN THE TWIN CITIES!



For more information about Juneteenth and to learn more about African American history, click on the links below:

• The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth

• Guide to African American Museums in America and Canada

• Senses of Freedom: The Taste, Sound and Experience of an African American Celebration

• Juneteenth: A Celebration of Resilience and Freedom
• The Juneteenth Mixtape: Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi
• Juneteenth Jamboree: PBS programming

Here are documentaries and other videos to watch to educate yourself about Juneteenth and the Black experience in America.

• 13th on Netflix
• I am Not Your Negro on YouTube
• Whose Streets? on Prime Video
• Fight the Power on Prime Video
• Slavery by another name on PBS
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on HBO Max