2007 PDL Season

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The 2007 USL Premier Development League season was the 13th season of the PDL. The season started on April 28, 2007. The regular season ended on July 25, 2007.

Laredo Heat finished the season as national champions, beating Michigan Bucks on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in the PDL Championship game in Laredo, Texas on 11 August 2007.

Hampton Roads Piranhas finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 14 out of their 16 games, suffering no losses, and finishing with a +36 goal difference.

Fresno Fuego striker Pablo Campos was the league's top scorer, knocking in 18 goals. Thunder Bay Chill's Gustavo Oliveira led the league with 15 assists, while Hampton Roads Piranhas keeper Evan Newton enjoyed the best goalkeeping statistics, with a goals-against average of 0.222 per game, and keeping 8 clean sheets in his 14 games.

[edit] Changes From 2006

[edit] Name Changes

The Williamsburg Legacy changed their name to the Virginia Legacy and unveiled a new logo on January 31, 2007.
The Raleigh Elite changed their name to the Cary RailHawks U23's after forming a partnership with their USL First Division parent club Carolina RailHawks FC and unveiled a new logo on March 6, 2007.
Tacoma FC changed their name to Tacoma Tide on March 8, 2007.
The Virginia Beach Submariners were acquired by and renamed as the Hampton Roads Piranhas on April 6, 2007, after their parent club, the Virginia Beach Mariners, was terminated on March 30.
The Boulder Rapids Reserve changed their name to the Colorado Rapids U23's on April 12, 2007, as well as their logo and colors, to reflect the changes undertaken by their parent club, the Colorado Rapids.

[edit] Team Transactions

The USL First Division franchise Toronto Lynx joined the league
The USL Second Division franchise Long Island Rough Riders joined the league
The National Premier Soccer League franchise San Jose Frogs joined the league

[edit] Expansion

Seven brand new franchises joined the league this year:

Team Name	Metro Area	Location
Baton Rouge Capitals	Baton Rouge area	Baker, LA
Fredericksburg Gunners	Fredericksburg area	Fredericksburg, VA
Mississippi Brilla	Jackson area	Clinton, MS
Lancaster Rattlers	Antelope Valley area	Palmdale, CA
Spokane Spiders	Spokane Valley area	Spokane, WA
Springfield Demize	Springfield area	Springfield, MO
Ventura County Fusion	Ventura County area	Ventura, CA

[edit] Folding

Six teams left the league prior to the beginning of the season:

[edit] Playoff format

The top two teams in each division advance to the playoffs, with all playoff matchups consisting of one game. Each conference will hold separate playoffs at a host location. The format for each conference playoff consists of one division winner playing against the other division's second-place club, with winners advancing to the conference final. The winners of each conference play in the national semifinal, determined as such: Central vs Western, Eastern vs Southern. The winners of these matches play in the final match scheduled on August 11.

[edit] Current Standings

Purple indicates division champion
Green indicates playoff berth clinched

[edit] Central Conference

[edit] Great Lakes Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Michigan Bucks	16	11	2	3	48	15	+33	36
2	Chicago Fire Premier	16	8	4	4	23	17	+6	28
3	West Michigan Edge	16	6	5	5	21	24	-3	23
4	Toronto Lynx	16	6	6	4	25	21	+4	22
5	Indiana Invaders	16	5	9	2	19	31	-12	17
6	Cleveland Internationals	16	5	10	1	22	35	-13	16
7	Fort Wayne Fever	16	4	11	1	21	38	-17	13

[edit] Heartland Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Thunder Bay Chill	16	10	3	3	35	17	+18	33
2	St. Louis Lions	16	10	6	0	39	24	+15	30
3	Kansas City Brass	16	8	3	5	26	28	-2	29
4	Des Moines Menace	16	8	7	1	41	24	+17	25
5	Colorado Rapids U23's	16	7	5	4	37	22	+15	25
6	Springfield Demize	16	4	11	1	16	44	-28	13
7	Sioux Falls Spitfire	16	3	11	2	15	41	-26	11

[edit] Eastern Conference

[edit] Mid Atlantic Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Hampton Roads Piranhas	16	14	0	2	42	6	+36	44
2	Ocean City Barons	16	9	3	4	33	20	+13	31
3	Virginia Legacy	16	9	5	2	27	19	+8	29
4	Reading Rage	16	7	5	4	30	29	+1	25
5	Fredericksburg Gunners	16	7	7	2	31	22	+9	23
6	Richmond Kickers Future	16	5	7	4	23	25	-2	19
7	Northern Virginia Royals	16	3	11	2	15	48	-33	11
8	Delaware Dynasty	16	3	11	2	20	35	-15	11
9	West Virginia Chaos	16	3	11	2	20	37	-17	10¹

¹West Virginia was penalized 1 point for circumstances not released by the USL.

[edit] Northeast Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Cape Cod Crusaders	16	9	1	6	35	15	+20	33
2	Brooklyn Knights	16	9	4	3	31	24	+7	30
3	Westchester Flames	16	7	4	5	34	17	+17	26
4	Long Island Rough Riders	16	7	6	3	26	22	+4	24
5	Albany Admirals	16	7	7	2	20	27	-7	23
6	Vermont Voltage	16	4	9	3	20	43	-23	15
7	Ottawa Fury	16	3	8	5	17	21	-4	14
8	Rhode Island Stingrays	16	4	11	1	19	33	-14	13

[edit] Southern Conference

[edit] Mid South Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Laredo Heat	16	10	2	4	29	12	+17	34
2	El Paso Patriots	16	8	6	2	19	17	+2	26
3	DFW Tornados	16	7	6	3	22	24	-2	24
4	Mississippi Brilla	16	6	5	5	30	21	+9	23
5	New Orleans Shell Shockers	16	5	6	5	28	22	+6	20
6	Baton Rouge Capitals	16	5	7	4	20	32	-12	19
7	Austin Lightning	16	3	12	1	13	31	-18	10

[edit] Southeast Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Carolina Dynamo	16	11	3	2	41	14	+27	35
2	Central Florida Kraze	16	11	4	1	47	21	+26	34
3	Atlanta Silverbacks U23's	16	10	2	4	32	14	+18	34
4	Bradenton Academics	16	8	4	4	39	19	+20	28
5	Cary RailHawks U23's	16	7	6	3	22	17	+5	24
6	Palm Beach Pumas	15	4	10	1	20	36	-16	11²
7	Nashville Metros	16	2	11	3	12	32	-20	9
8	Cocoa Expos	15	0	13	2	1	63	-62	2

²Palm Beach was penalized 2 points for circumstances not released by the USL.

[edit] Western Conference

[edit] Northwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	BYU Cougars	16	13	1	2	37	14	+23	41
2	Tacoma Tide	16	10	4	2	36	23	+13	32
3	Ogden Outlaws	16	6	7	3	23	22	+1	21
4	Abbotsford Rangers	16	5	6	5	38	24	+14	20
5	Spokane Spiders	16	6	10	0	25	49	-24	18
6	Yakima Reds	16	3	9	4	22	35	-13	13
7	Cascade Surge	16	3	11	2	17	38	-21	11

[edit] Southwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Fresno Fuego	16	10	4	2	41	28	+13	32
2	San Fernando Valley Quakes	16	9	2	5	33	16	+17	32
3	San Jose Frogs	16	10	5	1	24	16	+8	31
4	Ventura County Fusion	16	9	4	3	27	19	+8	30
5	Los Angeles Storm	16	6	5	5	23	25	-2	23
6	San Francisco Seals	16	6	8	2	18	23	-5	20
7	Southern California Seahorses	16	5	6	5	26	24	+2	20
8	Bakersfield Brigade	16	6	10	0	22	29	-7	18
9	Orange County Blue Star	16	3	9	4	18	27	-9	13
10	Lancaster Rattlers	16	2	13	1	23	48	-25	7