With Laredo Heat's 3-1 win at West Texas Sockers this evening, the Heat are at 30 points. 1 point above the Austin Aztex (29 points) in the Mid South division with 1 match left in the season. The Heat will be at El Paso Patriots while the Aztex will be at New Orleans Jester on Saturday. Meanwhile in the Southeast Division, 2 key matches tomorrow (Friday) evening: VSI Tampa at Orlando City U23 at 6 pm CST & Ocala Stampede at Panama City Beach Pirates at 7 pm CST. Standings: Ocala Stampede 32 pts (15 games) - clinched playoff spot & division IMG Bradenton Academics 26 pts (16 games) - season completed Orlando City U23 25 pts (14 games) Mississippi Brilla 22 pts (15 games) - out of playoffs Panama City Beach Pirates 21 pts (14 games) +5 goal dif. VSI Tampa 21 pts (14 games) +1 goal dif. Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy 11 pts (14 games) - out of playoffs FC Jax Destroyers 6 pts (14 games) - out of playoffs Friday: Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy at FC Jax Destroyers 6pm VSI Tampa at Orlando City U23 6pm Ocala Stampede at Panama City Beach Pirates 7pm Sunday: VSI Tampa at Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy 5pm Orlando City U23 at FC Jax Destroyers 6pm Panama City Beach Pirates at Mississippi Brilla 7:30pm It should be noted that depending on the result of Ocala's match tomorrow might determine where the Southern Conference playoff matches are going to be held. It could be there, Laredo or Austin depending on which teams have the most points at the end of the season or perhaps which team has the bigger bidding rights. Discuss right away!
I wouldn't mind an Aztex win and a Partoits-Heat draw. After this evening results: Ocala bombing Panama Beach 4-0 and a 1-1 draws from the other 2 matches, both Orlando City U23 and Bradenton are both tied with 26 points but Orlando has 1 more game at FC Jax on Sunday only needing a point. Bradenton holds the series against Orlando with a home draw and an away win. Now if the Aztex were to able to out bid Ocala to host the playoff, Aztex finish first in the Mid South division and Orlando City U23 finishes 2nd in Southeast division, GET YOUR AZTEX HOST AND DESTROY MOOD GOING!
PDL Southern Conference Playoff Schedule is set. Both semi-final games on July 20, 2012 in Ocala, Florida. Laredo Heat vs Orlando City U23s - 5 PM EST (4 PM CST) Ocala Stampede vs Austin Aztex - 8 PM EST (7 PM CST)
One minor change of the playoffs: (change in red) Southern Conference Championships At Trinity Catholic Stadium Ocala, Fla. Conference Semifinals Friday, July 20 Laredo Heat vs. Orlando City U23, 5:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. CT) Austin Aztex at Ocala Stampede, 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) Conference Championship Sunday, July 22 Semifinals winners, 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. CT) Violet, who knows if there's going to be any video feed or online viewing of the playoffs matches. Sadly, we might as well follow the game updates on Twitter.
Thanks James, I was curious about the times. Any info on the finals? Would it be Friday and Saturday or Friday and Sunday? Fingers crossed for a video feed. The guys responsible for taping our home games expressed interest in filming the playoffs. I have no idea how difficult the logistics of streaming might be. I am still hopeful. It has been a really fun season. Lets keep it going fellas!!
Sorry for the double post. Here is the answer to my question, I guess I didn't look hard enough before asking. If the Aztex win on Friday they would be in the finals on Sunday at 5 Eastern. http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/645449.html
Even if no video, I'd still be into gathering somewhere to stare at our (or, in my case, other people's) phones while drinking toasts to our boys.
Unfortunately for you, it doesn't work that way. You confused it with the Open Cup. It's always the better team by standings.
Cute pink smiley faces aside I don't think you're correct -- it may de facto be the best teams on points this year, but I'm told by our owner that all teams that qualified for the playoffs were asked to submit a bid to host. The Wikipedia page on the 2012 PDL season mentions this as well: "In 2012, the location for each conference championship will be decided by a bidding process between the teams that qualify to compete. The winner of the four conference championships will then compete in the PDL Championship held the weekend of July 27th-29th." Given that hosting for some teams could be a financial hardship -- the revenue they receive at the gate at the matches might not be enough to cover field rental and hotel rooms they'd be asked to supply -- I understand why the PDL would do it this way.
I wonder how strong the Southeast Div is ? Ocala have a Brazilian coach and big player influence hmm, but the facilities etc in that div don't look that strong to me, many teams playing at two venues unlike our div. What were their attendences like? Finals being at a local high school... thoughts? ps Just seen EA report on the match and the fact we got a bigger home crowd last game than Ocala did in their eight game season lol..but how good are they?
So it's only by coincidence that all the best teams won the hosting rights. Then again, considering Ocala is one of the missionary teams, hosting costs probably aren't as much an issue for them. For that matter, I'm surprised Orlando didn't bother since they actually own their U-23 stadium.
Just read this from Anthony Mannino via Twitter: "According to an official from the Ocala ESPN radio affiliate, audio for the game will be broadcasted online. The official also told me that all the games will likely be broadcasted online, which is good news if the Aztex make it to the final game."
This is good news. There's been a number of questions about a gathering for the Aztex v. Ocala match on Friday. I would suggest that those who are interested plan on gathering at The Lion & Rose for the match "watch/listening" party.
Just get an iPad with an HDMI adapter out there. It's the easiest way to broadcast online stuff these days. I can do anything from USL Nation, Ustream (NASL), or even MLS Live, with mine.
That begs two questions: 1. Exactly how does HDMI help us if the stream is audio only? 2. Don't you have your own board you can hang out on?
We're confirmed with the Lion & Rose this Friday at 7:00 p.m. for the Austin Aztex v. Ocala Stampede semi final match. It's audio only at this point, but if we hear that it's going to be video as well, we'll do our best to provide.
Paul Dalglish sent out a message, via twitter, that the team was flying out today. The ironic destination for our Aztex, is a city in which we do not speak off kindly. You know, the armpit of Florida or worse. I received a message from some of the folks with Ralph's Mob (Rowdies Supporters) that if we make it to the Sunday match they would try to attend and cheer on our boys. Dalglish's last Pro job was coaching at Tampa. Hope to see you at the L&R on Friday.
With the regular season over, how has attendance gone for the new team? Best of luck for the weekend!!
We were 5th out of all the USL PDL teams and 38th out of all of American Soccer (MLS, NASL, USLPro, USLPDL), with an average attendance of 1395. This number is low though, as the first match of the season listed 1505 attendees, but everyone at the game say it was closer to 2500. As a first season team, it was very impressive, and well above what I thought we would do.
Four years ago, the Conference semifinal. We actually won the division our original first year, but were beaten out on hosting by... well, they were the Central Florida Kraze at the time. But as you can see, the USL has done some historical revision, and they're listed in the standings for that year as Orlando City U23s. How's that for a time warp? Can't wait for tonight!