2007 Hampton Roads Piranhas PDL

I've been thinking about starting this thread for some time, but I can't put it off any longer.

I have to take this opportunity to brag on my Piranhas. In their inaugural season under new management (I guess they are pretty much the same Submariners team after all), the PDL Piranhas are 7-0-1, having surrendered a total of 0.00 goals all season!

This week has a big test on Wednesday as the Ocean City Barons finally make the trip down to Virginia Beach to play the make up game that was rained out earlier. This is HUGE game for both teams, as both are undefeated.

Stars for the Piranhas include GK Evan Newton, D David Horst and F Andrew Wheeler. All the boys are excellent but these three deserve mention as leading this team to it's fantastic start.

I will do my best to keep this thread updated. I will be at the game on Wednesday and hopefully I'll have some more good news to report.

Here's to holding out hope that there may be a revival of a professional mens team in Hampton Roads and the continuation of a wonderful Piranhas franchise!

 

Here's the best I can do to answer your question...

No. Player Pos. Age Hometown/Last Club

00 Ashton, Ben GK 20 Roanoke, VA/VB Submariners
__ Bilyk, Jeff M 29 Bayport, NY/VB Mariners
8 Danbusky, Steve D 30 Mineola, NY/VB Mariners
__ Fenger, Jakob F 36 Aarhus, Denmark/VB Mariners
15 Gilkerson, John D 21 Winchester, VA/VB Submariners
6 Haywood, Daniel F 21 Spaldwick, England/VB Submariners
23 Horst, David D 21 Pine Grove, PA/VB Submariners
21 Joseph, Nane M 20 Yaounde, Cameroon/Old Dominion University
25 Kalungi, Henry D __ Kampala, Uganda/Winthrop University
2 Kent, Jared M 25 Marietta, GA/VB Submariners
4 Lima, Caetano “KK” M 22 Sydney, Australia/VB Submariners
24 Mottinger, Gregg M 22 Carrollton, TX/Old Dominion University
1 Newton, Evan GK 19 Virginia Beach, VA/VB Submariners
18 Nolz, Josh M 27 Onancock, VA/VB Mariners
5 Nsereko, Stephen MF/F __ Kampala, Uganda/Winthrop University
11 Thomas, Brannon F __ Virginia Beach, VA/Virginia Legacy
3 Vendegh, Attila F 26 Bratislava, Slovakia/VB Submariners
25 Wheeler, Aaron MF 19 Baltimore, MD/Lenoir-Rhyne
7 Wheeler, Andrew F 20 Baltimore, MD/York College
13 William, Yomby D 25 Bafoussam, Cameroon/VB Submariners


Sorry it's not exactly formatted, but there's the roster. Quite a few internationals in my opinion, but I'm not too familiar with everyone else's roster either.

The bold players represent the typical starting line-up.

 

street team? sounds interesting. What is that exactly?

 

Yeah, that's the one. He really is amazing, and only 19!

The future does look bright for him.

 

Looks like Brian Perk, Steve Sandbo, and Chris Seitz beat him to it.

If America is ever deep at one position, it's goalkeepers. I sure am glad we get to hold on to him, though.

 

You know, I'm not even sure the problem is at the youth level. The Piranhas seem to have a very good relationship with the local youth clubs and organizations. They even have an official partnership with Beach FC. I've been hearing commercials for the current soccer camp on ESPN radio for the past couple weeks as well.

Really, in my opinion, the breakdown is in the lack of awareness of the general public. I like your ideas. They are good, but I just don't know if the youth are the problem, if you know what I mean. If there was a way to get a segment on the local afternoon sports radio show with maybe coach Hall and KK to talk about the team and the season and maybe offer some free tickets and what not. Or have some of the local vendors to offer tickets to the next game to those who enter the store. Theme nights are another big pull. I noticed you mentioned them on USLdiscussions. These are the kinds of things you hear the Peninsula Pilots doing, and their team is no different than the Piranhas; simple grassroots marketing 101. If the Piranhas are doing anything like this, than call me on it. I'd love to be wrong!

I did only just move here 3 weeks ago, but I've been following the Piranhas very closely since I arrived, and that has been my impression at least thus far. I very well could be wrong. I would hope at least that the club is doing their best to get the word out amongst the teams they list on their website as official team sponsors.

 

And the streak goes on!

I have just returned home from another Piranhas clean sheet. This one at the expense of the Ocean City Barons.

The final score was 2-0 in a game where it was obvious both teams came to play. Goals from Andrew Wheeler and Attila Vendegh on either side of the half secured the win and the defense played yet another superb match to preserve the scoreless streak. The second half became quite chippy culminating with a straight red to Barons #4, Adam Ennis, for a check to Daniel Haywood on the touchline that would've made any hockey highlight reel.

 

Full match report

PDL Piranhas Make It 9 for 9

Correction on my part. The second goal was from Zach Kinney. Sorry Zach!

 

Make that 10!

The Piranhas beat the Norther Virginia Royals 5-0 yesterday to continue the streak.

I don't know what else to say.

Way to go boys!

 

Piranhas set PDL shutout streak record
Club three away from season shut out record

That's right! It's official.

The Piranhas have 2 home games this weekend against the Rage and FC Fred.

And to think 3 months ago, we didn't have a mens team anymore...

 

Man, that sounds like a great idea, however I don't have the answer. I only moved here a month ago.

I'll add a soccer friendly sports bar or pub to my list of things to find here. Right now at the top is a place to PLAY some nice pick-up soccer.

I hope you can make it to some Piranhas matches. The team is very entertaining and quite good. There are two this weekend. Tickets are just $5.00 - worth the money too.

Anyway, if you do find out anything, please post it here. Another place to look might be the Piranhas boards on usldiscussions.com

 

This is exciting news involving the Piranhas...

PIRANHAS AND WSKY TV4 PARTNER FOR WEEKLY SOCCER SHOW

That's right, the Piranhas are going to have a weekly show on the local station every Saturday morning to discuss local club, Piranhas, national, and international soccer news and highlights including player interviews and profiles.

I'm excited about this new opportunity. I know it's audience is very limited but this is a great example of the local media taking an interest in a W-League/PDL franchise. I hope this is only the beginning of great things to come.

This area has had a very rocky history with the professional soccer, as most know, and I really hope the Laumanns can continue to make strides in repairing that dirtied image left by the Mariners ownership.

 

And so it ends!

PDL PIRANHAS AND READING RAGE DRAW FOR A SECOND TIME

Credit Scott Rowling of the Reading Rage for ending the scoreless streak at 921m 43s. Not a bad record to hold if I may say so myself.

But at least the Fish fought back and earned a draw with a goal from Josh Nolz in the 57th.

The last home game of the season for the Fish is tomorrow against FC Fred.

 

There are a few Mariners on the current squad, only two of which play. They are Danbusky and Nolz. Most of the team, and starting line-up, is U23.

There are several great players. It's hard to say who might make the next step. Andrew Wheeler has obviously been impressive this year. He has good speed, makes great runs, and clearly he can finish. David Horst is a big strong CB that I think definitely has a future. Another defender, John Gilkerson, has had a great year at outside back. He can get up and down the line and adds well to the attack as well. Evan Newton, GK, is only 19 and is an obvious prospect. Those are 4 right off the top of my head. There are others; Nsereko, Lima, etc. that have looked really good this year. Of course, I'm biased, but I think the 4 I listed would be on anyone's list.

 

And the Piranhas are back on track!

PDL Piranhas Record 11th Shutout

The Fish end the season with 4 away games. Next up is a rematch with FC Fred on July 7th.

 

Hampton Roads Piranhas hold on to win a 3-2 thriller in Fredricksburg.
Game highlights and summary here

Many Fish supporters made the trip to Fredricksburg to cheer on the Piranhas, and it paid off. Backup goalkeeper Ben Ashton was given the start and saved the day with a big save in the dying moments to preserve the win.

All credit to FC Fred for scoring 2 goals on a very stingy defense. By all accounts, it was a great performance from both sides.

To break the season record for clean sheets, the Fish have their work cut out for them with only 3 games left against the West Virginia Chaos, Delaware Dynasty and Ocean City Barons. They must shutout all three to reach 14.

 

As far as I know, there hasn't been any public discussion of adding a professional mens team to the Piranhas organization, as much as I would love it.

This city was burned bad by the Mariners and it will probably take a little time to rebuild the reputation of soccer in this area, but I think the Piranhas are doing a fantastic job of it.

As an ownership/management group, the Laumanns are pretty stretched. The Piranhas now field a team in W-League, PDL, Super-20 girls and Super-20 boys. If any further expansion is going to happen, I think it will require some additional support and more financial partners.

The future does look bright for the club, but they probably need to be careful not to add too much too fast. As mentioned above, they will have a 30 minute show evey Saturday morning on the local network devoted to Piranhas and other soccer news. We're all very excited about that and very excited to have a team to cheer on at all. For now, I'm satisfied.