Tough summertime competition fuels the growth of the Mankato United WPSL players and regional women’s soccer.
That’s been part of the plan, according to team general manager Rustin Luedtke, who wrapped up his seventh season with the team. That growth has spawned exponential expansion of summer women’s soccer in Minnesota.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Luedtke says. “There were just five teams in the state when we joined the WPSL (in 2019). Now there’s close to 100. It’s really grown. It’s a great place for college women’s soccer players.”
But there’s also the hope that Mankato area soccer players get additional time together as teammates as they look to improve on Minnesota State’s Division II runner-up effort in 2024. Twelve Mavericks played this summer with Mankato United in the regional WPSL program, finishing 4-4-3.
“It went really well,” Luedtke says. “The team progressed nicely through the season. It goes by really fast. For us, it was a really fun season.”
Luedtke, who coached at Mankato West for six years, said the team’s “high pressure, high press” style of play takes some getting used to and is an added conditioning opportunity for college-level women’s soccer players. Luedtke adds that several St. Peter High School soccer players have also played for Mankato United, growing the level of play in the region.
MSU soccer player Ella Huettl, a Mankato East graduate, echoed Luedtke’s sentiments.
“It’s (a) super quick (season),” Huettl said of the 7-week season, which wrapped up June 28. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Huettl also enjoyed the presence of three internationals on the Mankato United team, from Scotland, the U.K. and New Zealand.
“That was a super fun experience playing with them,” said Huettl, enjoying the “different style” of play, calling it “more technical.”
With 11 Mavericks on Mankato United, it seemed like an extension of the historic 2024 fall season for Huettl and teammates. Despite the 2-1 loss in the Division II national championship match to Cal Poly Pomona, there’s hope for another great run this coming fall for the Mavericks.
Improving on the 2024 run, which included a 12-1-5 regular season record and 11-0-3 NSIC championship, won’t be easy. But Huettl notes the tough summer competition, often against DI players, helps.
“The biggest desire is to go back (to nationals),” Huettl says.
Still, Huettl looks forward to a soccer break. MSU’s preseason begins Aug. 19, she notes.
Better facilities fuel growth.
“When I moved back to town in 2017, there wasn’t any turf,” Luedtke says.
Now, there are numerous indoor and artificial turf surfaces throughout the area.
Improved facilities through the Mankato area have allowed for additional practice time. Luedtke says nearly a third of Mankato United’s summer practices were moved inside the MSU field house due to wet conditions. And as soccer programs and facilities improve, “it just keeps compounding.”
“That really makes a difference,” he added.
Luedtke plans to return as Mankato United’s general manager next summer.
“Both my daughters played soccer,” added Luedtke, including one for Mankato United and with MSU. “As a family, we’ve kind of been soccer nuts for some time.”
And he’s looking forward to seeing more growth as the MSU players return to coach Brian Bahl’s successful program.
Bahl, who just received a contract extension, has an overall record of 190-29-32, an .820 winning percentage.
His daughter, Aubrey, a Mankato West graduate, will be entering her final year with the Mavericks. She and Julia Fischer, an East graduate, also played for Mankato United this summer and will again dot the MSU fall women’s soccer roster.
Huettl and Fischer were among East soccer players in 2022 that helped the Cougars to a 20-1-1 season and third-place finish in the Minnesota Class AA tournament. The East girls soccer program kept it up the next two seasons.
In 2023, East qualified for the Class AA tourney but lost an opening-round match to eventual champion Benilde St. Margaret’s. This past fall, East dropped a semifinal match to eventual AA champion Mahtomedi, then topped Orono 1-0 for a third-place finish.