Rally Madison F.C.
Carly Christopher
Rally Madison midfielder Carly Christopher fires a shot during a practice drill at Breese Stevens Field.
It’s late in the afternoon at Breese Stevens Field and the mid-May weather could not be more ideal for soccer, or any outdoor sport. The temperature is in the 60s, it’s sunny, and the stadium’s brand new artificial turf is still soft and bouncy.
The percussive sound of feet striking soccer balls at nearly regular intervals is like a slow metronome, interrupted occasionally when one strikes the metal frame of a goal with a clang.
The players for Rally Madison, the brand new “pre-professional” women’s soccer team that opens play Friday at 6:30 p.m. with a pre-season match at Breese against Chicago House F.C., are participating in a shooting drill. Each player has a ball and drives forward, taking three quick touches before firing a shot from 18 yards away.
Head coach Giuliano Oliviero encourages the players to think of it as the final shot of the game, and many of them use that as fuel to find space in the upper corners of the net, out of reach for the diving goalkeepers.
It’s not a game, but it’s pretty entertaining to watch.
With a couple of exceptions, all of the Rally players played youth soccer in Wisconsin, but have fanned out across the country to play college soccer, most of them for Division I schools. There are three Badgers, three from Marquette, and a couple from UW-Milwaukee. But others play for Wake Forest, Butler, Old Dominion, even the U.S. Olympic Development Program.
Rally Madison F.C.
Malia Zillman
Rally Madison Goalkeeper Malia Zillman faces a shot during a drill at Breese Stevens Field. Zillman, a Waunakee native, is a University of Michigan recruit who has played for two years in the U.S. Olympic Development Program.
What brought them to Madison to join a first-year operation?
“Giuliano!” says Carly Christopher, who just finished her junior year at Marquette. “Being coached by Jules. Everyone speaks so highly of him. He has so much experience, a very successful career, so I trust his opinion.”
Oliviero coached the Milwaukee Wave, a professional men’s indoor team, from 2016-2024, but is now the girls academy director at Elmbook United, a large youth club in the western suburbs of Milwaukee. Many of the Rally players have either played for him or on clubs that competed against him.
“Jules was a coach at my club and he’s now giving us the opportunity to not only play with each other again, but play at a higher level,” says Jess Fernau, a sophomore-to-be at Ball State who won four state titles at Muskego and was named the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year in 2025. “It’s a great opportunity to play throughout the summer and stay competitive before our [college] seasons is kind of what sold me.”
That opportunity is similar to what’s offered by the Madison Mallards baseball team: a chance for college athletes to work on skills and improve during the summer under the guidance of credentialed coaching. Rally is owned and operated by Forward Madison F.C., the men’s club starting its eighth season in USL League One, the third tier of professional soccer in the U.S. That group is affiliated with the Mallards as well.
The original plan was for Forward to develop a professional women’s squad in what’s called the USL Super League, but that move would have required substantial improvements to Breese, along with the construction of an indoor training facility. When those barriers proved too costly, the Forward Madison ownership pivoted to fielding a team in the “pre-professional” USL W, a sprawling league of 96 teams in 16 regional divisions around the country.
Madison will compete in the Heartland Division along with teams from Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota and two others from Wisconsin.
But all of those particulars are irrelevant to what fans can expect on the field, and the players consistently use the term “pressure” when describing Rally’s style, playing as much as possible in the opponent’s half of the field.
“We are very pressure focused,” says Izzy Arnold, a Madison West grad entering her senior year at College of Charleston. “Put the opponent in their own defensive third, like really make it happen. I’m excited for that.”
What also excites the players is the prospect of playing in front of a crowd at Breese. College soccer games do not see a lot of fans, generally.
“I went to a meet and greet here in Madison this winter and it was just kind of eye-opening, seeing these little kids — girls and boys — wanting to meet us,” Fernau says. “We’re playing for not only ourselves, but for these kids who are growing up and maybe want to be in our position one day.”
Players are also realizing that plenty of grown-ups are excited about the team as well.
“I had no idea until yesterday that people have season tickets,” Christopher says. “That’s super cool.”
