2000 PDL season

The 2000 USL Premier Development League season was the 6th PDL season. The season began in April 2000 and ended in August 2000.

USL Premier Development League

Season	2000
Champions	Chicago Sockers (2nd title)
Best Player	Fernando Salazar San Fernando Valley Heroes
Top goalscorer	Arshak Abyanli San Fernando Valley Heroes (15 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Adam Throop Chicago Sockers
← 1999 2001 →

Chicago Sockers finished the season as national champions, beating Mid-Michigan Bucks 1–0 in the PDL Championship game. Westchester Flames had finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 15 out of their 18 games, suffering just three losses, and finishing with a +26 goal difference.

Changes from the 1999 season

Rules

This is the first year that the PDL used ties in the standings, whereas previous seasons employed a shootout.

Name changes

The following teams changed their name:

• The West Michigan Explosion became the West Michigan Edge.

New teams

10 New teams were added, including 8 expansion teams:

Team name	Metro area	Location	Previous affiliation
Alabama Saints	Birmingham area	Birmingham, AL	returned from hiatus
Boulder Nova	Boulder area	Boulder, CO	expansion
Broward County Wolfpack	Broward County area	Fort Lauderdale, FL	expansion
Dayton Gems	Dayton Area	Dayton, OH	expansion
New Brunswick Brigade	New Brunswick area	New Brunswick, NJ	expansion
North Jersey Imperials	North Jersey area	Paramus, NJ	from D3 Pro League
Palm Beach Pumas	Palm Beach area	Palm Beach, FL	expansion
South Florida Future	Southwest Florida area	Sarasota, FL	returned from hiatus
Tampa Bay Hawks	Tampa Bay Area	Palm Harbor, FL	expansion
Thunder Bay Chill	Thunder Bay Area	Thunder Bay, Ontario	expansion

Folding

Eight teams folded before the season:

• Clarksville Gunners
• Jackson Chargers
• Miami Tango
• New York Capital District Shockers
• Orlando Nighthawks
• Silicon Valley Ambassadors
• Sioux City Breeze
• Tucson Amigos

Standings

Legend
Division champion
Team qualified for playoff berth
Regular season champion and bye into PDL Semifinals.

Central Conference

Great Lakes Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Mid-Michigan Bucks	18	14	3	1	64	21	+43	14	71
2	Dayton Gems	18	9	8	1	37	35	+2	7	44
3	West Michigan Edge	18	9	9	0	32	38	−6	7	43
4	Kalamazoo Kingdom	18	9	9	0	37	37	0	7	43
5	Indiana Invaders	18	8	10	0	35	43	−8	5	37
6	Lexington Bluegrass Bandits	18	5	13	0	26	47	−21	5	25

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Heartland Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Chicago Sockers	18	13	5	0	45	17	+28	10	62
2	Rockford Raptors	18	9	7	2	38	35	+3	8	46
3	Des Moines Menace	18	10	8	0	63	28	+35	5	45
4	Wisconsin Rebels	18	9	8	1	34	25	+9	6	43
5	Twin Cities Tornado	18	7	9	2	26	33	−7	2	32
6	Thunder Bay Chill	18	4	13	1	20	49	−29	2	19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Provisional Teams

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Louisiana Outlaws[a]	12	5	5	2	25	25	0	5	27
2	Alabama Saints[a]	7	1	4	2	6	14	−8	1	7
3	Central Jersey Riptide[a]	10	1	9	0	10	31	−21	1	5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Provisional teams are not eligible for playoffs

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Westchester Flames	18	15	3	0	47	21	+26	10	70
2	Vermont Voltage	18	11	6	1	37	22	+15	8	53
3	New York Freedom	18	10	7	1	45	24	+21	8	49
4	Brooklyn Knights	18	9	8	1	30	32	−2	4	41
5	North Jersey Imperials	18	7	11	0	38	49	−11	6	34
6	New Brunswick Brigade	18	2	15	1	22	56	−34	1	10

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Southeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Tampa Bay Hawks	18	12	5	1	52	35	+17	9	58
2	Bradenton Academics	18	11	6	1	43	27	+16	8	53
3	Cocoa Expos	18	11	6	1	38	27	+11	6	51
4	Central Florida Kraze	18	10	6	2	46	34	+12	8	50
5	Palm Beach Pumas	18	8	8	2	39	43	−4	7	41
6	South Florida Future	18	8	10	0	30	43	−13	3	35
7	Broward County Wolfpack	18	4	12	2	36	56	−20	7	25
8	Miami Breakers	18	3	14	1	27	46	−19	5	18

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Western Conference

Rocky Mountain Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Colorado Comets	18	12	5	1	51	29	+22	7	56
2	Wichita Jets	18	8	8	2	46	60	−14	7	41
3	Boulder Nova	18	8	9	1	38	32	+6	7	40
4	Kansas City Brass	18	5	11	2	41	56	−15	6	28
5	Colorado Springs Stampede	18	5	11	2	27	46	−19	3	25

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Northwest Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Yakima Reds	18	12	5	1	59	29	+30	11	60
2	Spokane Shadow	18	11	4	3	43	36	+7	7	54
3	Seattle Sounders Select	18	11	6	1	33	28	+5	6	51
4	Abbotsford 86ers Select	18	8	9	1	49	44	+5	9	42
5	Cascade Surge	18	5	11	2	34	28	+6	6	28
6	Willamette Valley Firebirds	18	3	15	0	28	71	−43	4	16

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Southwest Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	San Fernando Valley Heroes	18	11	7	0	57	48	+9	12	56
2	Central Coast Roadrunners	18	11	7	0	51	39	+12	9	53
3	Nevada Zephyrs	18	7	11	0	32	43	−11	4	32
4	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	18	4	14	0	35	66	−31	4	20

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs

Format

Mid-Michigan won the PDL Regular Season title and a bye to the National Semi-Finals. This moved Dayton up to the Great Lakes Division first place spot and allowed West Michigan into the playoffs, taking the second place spot for the division.

For the Central and Eastern divisions, the top seeds from each division face the second place team from the opposite division. For the Western Conference, the division champion with the most points will play the wild card, while the two remaining division champions play each other.

Conference playoffs

	Central Semifinals					Central Finals
	HL1	Chicago Sockers	6
	GL2	West Michigan Edge	0
						HL1	Chicago Sockers	2
						GL1	Dayton Gems	0
	GL1	Dayton Gems	1
	HL2	Rockford Raptors	0

Central Conference Playoffs

August 4, 2000

6:30 PM

Conference Semifinal

Rockford Raptors	0–1	Dayton Gems
	Report	55' Jack Cummings

Forest View Park
Arlington Heights, Illinois

August 4, 2000

8:30 PM

Conference Semifinal

Chicago Sockers	6–0	West Michigan Edge
Rodrigo Costa Hernan Campuzano

Forest View Park
Arlington Heights, Illinois

August 5, 2000

9:00 PM

Central Conference Final

Chicago Sockers	2–0	Dayton Gems

Forest View Park
Arlington Heights, Illinois

	Eastern Semifinals					Eastern Finals
	NE1	Westchester Flames	1
	SE2	Bradenton Academics	0
						NE1	Westchester Flames	1
						SE1	Tampa Bay Hawks	0
	SE1	Tampa Bay Hawks (AET/PSO)	2 (4)
	NE2	Vermont Voltage	2 (2)

Eastern Conference Playoffs

August 5, 2000

3:00 PM

Conference Semifinal

Tampa Bay Hawks	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Vermont Voltage
		Chris Baum
Penalties
	4–2

IMG Academy
Bradenton, Florida

August 5, 2000

5:00 PM

Conference Semifinal

Bradenton Academics	0–1	Westchester Flames
		55' Ernest Inneh

IMG Academy
Bradenton, Florida

August 6, 2000

5:00 PM

Eastern Conference Final

Westchester Flames	1–0	Tampa Bay Hawks
Chris Wingert 65'

IMG Academy
Bradenton, Florida

	Western Semifinals					Western Finals
	NW	Yakima Reds	2
	WC	Spokane Shadow	0
						NW	Yakima Reds	1
						RM	Colorado Comets	0
	RM	Colorado Comets	4
	SW	San Fernando Valley Heroes	1

Western Conference Playoffs

August 5, 2000

9:00 PM

Conference Semifinal

Colorado Comets	4–1	San Fernando Valley Heroes
	Report	75' Ricardo Salazar

Joe Albi Stadium
Spokane, Washington

August 5, 2000

11:00 PM

Conference Semifinal

Spokane Shadow	0–2	Yakima Reds
Garth Cummings  45'	Report	70' Joe Bensch 77' Aaron Heinzen 87' Grant Falco

Joe Albi Stadium
Spokane, Washington

Attendance: 1,005

August 6, 2000

9:00 PM

Western Conference Final

Yakima Reds	1–0	Colorado Comets
Mike Pardini 36'

Joe Albi Stadium
Spokane, Washington

PDL championship

	PDL Semifinals					PDL Finals
	PDL	Mid-Michigan Bucks	5
	NW	Yakima Reds	2
						PDL	Mid-Michigan Bucks	0
						HL1	Chicago Sockers	1
	NE1	Westchester Flames	0
	HL1	Chicago Sockers	5			PDL Third Place
						NW	Yakima Reds	2
						NE1	Westchester Flames	5

^[1]

PDL National Semifinals

August 11, 2000

7:00 PM EDT

Mid-Michigan Bucks	5–2	Yakima Reds
Bonaventure Maruti 3' Tino Scicluna  27' Paul Snape 34', 52', 58' Justin Detter 88'	Report	44' Jason Timm 53' John Schefter  58' John Maloney 90' Machado

White Pine Stadium
Saginaw Township, Michigan

Attendance: 526

---

August 11, 2000

9:00 PM EDT

Westchester Flames	0–5	Chicago Sockers
Joseph Afful  42' Dusan Erceg  72'	Report	23', 52' Lee Paul 35' (o.g.) Richard Bradley 53', 58' Hamid Mehreioskouei

White Pine Stadium
Saginaw Township, Michigan

Third Place Game

August 12, 2000

6:00 PM EDT

Westchester Flames	5–2	Yakima Reds
Ernest Inneh 19', 72', 76', 88' Dusan Erceg  50' Nick Sellas 89'	Report	8' John Schefter  33' John Maloney  54' Nate Nelson 83' Luiz Marcelo Machado

White Pine Stadium
Saginaw Township, Michigan

PDL Championship Game

August 12, 2000

8:00 PM EDT

Mid-Michigan Bucks	0–1	Chicago Sockers
Joe Malachino  9' Paul Snape  26' Tino Scicluna  60'	Report	61' Rodrigo Costa

White Pine Stadium
Saginaw Township, Michigan

Attendance: 1,220