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Western Mass Pioneers is an American soccer team based in Ludlow, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1998, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference, having voluntarily self-relegated from the USL Second Division at the end of 2009.
The team plays its home games at Lusitano Stadium, where they have played since 1998. The team's colors are red, black and white. Their current head coach is Pole Leszek Wrona.
The team has a sister organization, the Western Mass Lady Pioneers, who play in the women's USL W-League.
[edit] History
In August 1997, the USISL announced it had awarded an expansion franchise to Gremio Lusitano, an amateur soccer club based in Ludlow, Massachusetts. The USISL had set a condition for new teams which prohibited ethnic team names which prevented the club from using the name Gremio or Lusitano. Therefore, the town's two newspapers, the Union-News and Sunday Republican, held a week long "name the team" contest which resulted in the selection of Pioneers.[1] In October 1997, general manager Rick Andre named Leszek Wrona, who had both played for and coached Gremio Lusitan, as head coach of the Pioneers.[2] In September 1999, the Pioneers expressed an interest in moving up to the A-League after winning the USL D-3 Pro League.[3] However, the team elected to remain in the D-3 Pro League. In 2001, John Voight replaced Wrona has head coach. Wrona would return in 2005, leave in 2007 and return again in 2008. By 2003, the team was fielding ten Junior Pioneer youth teams which competed in the Super Y-League.[4] Through all these years, the team has remained under the ownership of Gremio Lusitano.
On December 22, 2009, following the exodus of teams from the USL to the new North American Soccer League, the Pioneers announced that they would self-relegate, and play in the USL Premier Development League in 2010.[5]
[edit] Players
[edit] Current roster
as at October 11, 2009
[edit] Notable former players
[edit] Year-by-year
| Year |
Division |
League |
Reg. Season |
Playoffs |
Open Cup |
| 1998 |
3 |
USISL D-3 Pro League |
3rd, Northeast |
Division Semifinals |
2nd Round |
| 1999 |
3 |
USL D-3 Pro League |
1st, Northern |
Champion |
Did not qualify |
| 2000 |
3 |
USL D-3 Pro League |
5th, Northern |
Conference Finals |
Did not qualify |
| 2001 |
3 |
USL D-3 Pro League |
7th, Northern |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2002 |
3 |
USL D-3 Pro League |
1st, Northern |
Quarterfinals |
Did not qualify |
| 2003 |
3 |
USL Pro Select League |
3rd, Northern |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2004 |
3 |
USL Pro Soccer League |
3rd, Northern |
Did not qualify |
2nd Round |
| 2005 |
3 |
USL Second Division |
1st |
Final |
3rd Round |
| 2006 |
3 |
USL Second Division |
6th |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2007 |
3 |
USL Second Division |
6th |
Did not qualify |
2nd Round |
| 2008 |
3 |
USL Second Division |
6th |
Quarterfinals |
2nd Round |
| 2009 |
3 |
USL Second Division |
7th |
Did not qualify |
2nd Round |
| 2010 |
4 |
USL PDL |
|
|
|
[edit] Honors
- USL Second Division Regular Season Champions 2005
- USL D-3 Pro League Northern Division Champions 2002
- USL D-3 Pro League Champions 1999
- USL D-3 Pro League Northern Division Champions 1999
[edit] Head coaches
[edit] Stadia
[edit] Average Attendance
[edit] References
- ^ Soccer invades WMass Union-News (Springfield, MA) - Tuesday, August 12, 1997
- ^ Wrona will coach Pioneers Union-News (Springfield, MA) - Tuesday, October 14, 1997
- ^ Pioneers explore new route Union-News (Springfield, MA) - Friday, September 17, 1999
- ^ Pioneers notebook - Andre to head soccer operation Union-News (Springfield, MA) - Wednesday, February 19, 2003
- ^ Pioneers head to PDL in 2010
[edit] External links
Celso Correia
Leszek Wrona
Mateus dos Anjos
Joe Germanese
Jair
Fausto Klinger
