Erie, PA – May 3, 2009 – Erie Admirals S.C. is excited to announce its player signings for its inaugural 2009 campaign with the National Premier Soccer League. Supporters will see a mix of local and international players, many of whom have been honored nationally by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Adidas. "I am delighted to have players from all three area colleges," said Manager/Head Coach, John Melody. "There are several players from Erie playing with the team as well as some high school players and this can only help in Further developing soccer in the area." Erie Admirals S.C. 2009 Roster NO. PLAYER HOMETOWN COUNTRY SCHOOL/CLUB 3 Khash Azizollahi Erie, PA Iran/Sweden Gannon University 13 Cory Bachstein Yardley, PA USA Duquesne University 1 Greg Blum Baden, PA USA Slippery Rock University 22 Luke Brookfield Ormskirk, England England Ashland University 6 Andy Carr Preston, England England Notre Dame College (OH) 24 Evan Chaté Toledo, OH France/USA Owens C.C./Gannon University 11 Adam Clement Erie, PA USA McDowell H.S./Erie Admirals 17 Billy Colton Pitsea, England England Mercyhurst College 21 John Cordier Fairview, PA USA Cathedral Prep/Erie Admirals 16 Jeremy Deighton Broadview Heights, OH USA Slippery Rock University 27 Stephen Duggan Kilkenny, Ireland Ireland Mercyhurst College 15 Arash Fahandezh Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada Mercyhurst College 18 Matt Firister Harborcreek, PA USA Erie Admirals/University of Pittsburgh 20 Luke Holms Oldham, England England Notre Dame College (OH)/Bury 19 Dan Howell Erie, PA USA Erie Admirals/Gannon University 14 Ben Kreple Traverse City, MI USA University of Wisconsin-Parkside 10 Afrim Latifi Erie, PA Kosovo Erie Admirals/Gannon University 25 James Livingston Ormskirk, England England Ashland University 2 Mitchell Mack Erie, PA USA Cathedral Prep/Erie Admirals 0 Danny Mudd Hull, England England Mercyhurst College 4 Simon Rumbold Swindon, England England Notre Dame College (OH) 12 Neil Shaffer Aliquippa, PA USA Robert Morris University 7 Eric Tattersall Erie, PA USA Erie Admirals/Cleveland State University 9 Jerry Tortella Pittsburgh, PA USA Penn State Behrend 8 Ben Truax Mansfield, OH USA Walsh University 5 Alex Trujillo Whitby, Ontario Canada Duquesne University 00 Dustin Walker Apollo, PA USA Penn State Behrend 2009 NPSL Northeast Region The Northeast region of the National Premier Soccer League is divided into two divisions, the Keystone and the Atlantic. The winners of each division will square off in a playoff to determine who will represent the region in the national tournament. The region is represented as follows: Keystone Atlantic Buffalo City FC - Buffalo, NY Boston Aztec - Boston, MA Charm City FC - Baltimore, MD Long Island Academy - West Hempstead, NY Erie Admirals S.C. Maine Sting - Bangor, ME *Pennsylvania Stoners-Lehigh Valley PA Morris County Colonials-Morristown NJ Pocono Snow - East Stroudsburg, PA New York Athletic - Pelham, NY FC Reading Revolution - Reading, PA * 2008 National Champions
I hope they do well. I have always thought Erie would be a great location for a team. They are playing at a great facillity there.
With the hopeful addition of Rochester, it will be nice to see Buffalo, Erie, Rochester so close to each other.
Nice blend of Slippery Rock, Gannon & Mercyhurst talent! I went to the Rock, my one brother in law captained Gannon & my other bro-in-law was team physician at Mercyhurst for years. I'll have to keep the Admirals on the radar!
Admirals S.C. looks to lay roots Team wins first exhibition against PDL's WV Chaos, hopes to develop support from community The name change was a subtle but necessary one. Erie Admirals S.C. officials needed to set their team apart from the popular youth program. "People will hear Erie Admirals and think kids," managing director Debra Bonaminio said. But these are men playing a man's game. They simply share a dream that began as kids -- to play professionally. read the rest of the article
Do Erie Admirals have any followers here? Seems that you had a pretty good season last year. What is the outlook for '12? What do you think of the reformed conference?
Looks like the long ride would be Detroit, what's that, five hours or so? Even the Buffalo games (Water Level Derby?) are 100 miles.... looking at the list of teams in the initial season (above) this alignment is an improvement, compared to Maine for example....But I note Binghampton has bought themselves a bus... Am I correct in thinking that Buffalo is returning for their third year, but the other sides are expansion?
Thanks, I understand - now I see that most of the other teams from last year are now in the Keystone Conf. Did you catch any of the games last season? How was play, attendance, etc? Anyway, good luck to the new franchises, and Go Admirals! Thanks for the info.
I thought very seriously at one point about putting a NPSL expansion franchise in the Utica NY area. When they wanted to stick us in with Detroit, Cleveland and Erie I had some 2nd thoughts. Additionally my business partner decided to pocket a few extra bucks for himself without my consent. So it's better to lose a few bucks early than to lose many thousands later on.
You are right, it is better that you discovered that about your prospective partner before you got in too deeply, sorry to hear that happened to you and your team... Travel expense is certainly a huge factor in lower division/minor league sports generally - used to follow a now defunct CanAm League baseball team and that was one of their key issues as well... Unfortunately, I do not have any really creative solutions to suggest. For example, I don't think that even contracting conference-wide for buses would get you much of a break, too much of the expense is simply fuel and beyond the control of your "strategic travel services partner". How much of the travel is overnight? You have to provide the driver accommodation as well as your team, of course, I understand the map distance involved, but not how these teams actually do it, how the game times fit in, etc.
small world, as there is now a Can Am baseball team playing just about 5 minutes from my house here in New York.
Composite Great Lakes Division schedule: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/npsl-expansion-2012.1833388/page-5#post-25650057
Admirals lost 3-0 to Conference leaders Detroit in their 2012 debut, look to bounce back in tomorrow's home opener with Binghampton (3pm Gannon).
See the Admirals righted their ship and came back strong against Binghamton (thanks SP, we aim for kaizen) last night 4-0 in a rain delayed home opener - someone from the FO "liveblogged" it on their Facebook, sort of an improv match-tracker, kind of fun to follow along over the net...
I couldn't say as I only followed it via the web - I understand there were 40-50 attending, hope we get a firsthand report. From the description posted, it sounded like Ads dominated throughout, got some players in off the bench second half. Last score was a late penalty though. Binghamton was in off a late game in Cleveland Sat. Night then arrived Erie, warmed up, teams went into dressing rooms for pregame then took an hour delay, so it must have seemed a long day for Binghamton once they fell behind, don't know if this trip represents them accurately....
ok, so the way that I currently read this...Erie Admirals yesterday at home played AFC Cleveland to a 1-1 draw, they are tied with Detroit and must travel today to Binghamton NY. A tie seemingly wins them the conference championship.
Admirals beat Binghamton 4-3 so are Midwest-Great Lakes regular season winners, thus top seed in a 4 team playoff to determine who represents the Conference at nationals. Erie will face 4-seed Binghamton and Detroit (2) and Cleveland (3) face off in the other semi - both games will be at Gannon Univ stadium in Erie next Saturday; the final will also be at Gannon on Sunday, 3PM.