The North Shore United U17 girls had a special visitor at their practice on Thursday evening.

Mikki Denney Wright, the head coach for the University of Minnesota women's soccer team, flew into Milwaukee specifically to take a look at some of the NSU players.

"That's pretty unheard of, that a coach would fly in just to watch some of our girls practice," said Joe Hammes, NSU director of coaching. "She's interested in several of the players. ... It says a lot about our program and that team, especially."

The U17 girls were state champions at the U15 level and runners-up at U16, and have participated in a number of prestigious tournaments around the country.

The Golden Gophers were 14-6-3 a year ago, 4-4-2 in the Big Ten. Minnesota then won two games in the NCAA tournament before a last-minute goal by Georgetown in the Sweet 16 ended its season.