2001 PDL season

The 2001 USL Premier Development League season was the 7th PDL season. The season began in April 2001 and ended in August 2001.

USL Premier Development League

Season	2001
Champions	Westchester Flames (1st Title)
Regular Season Champions	Calgary Storm (1st Title)
Best Player	Beau Brown Lafayette Lightning
Top goalscorer	Beau Brown Lafayette Lightning (21 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Lars Hirschfeld Calgary Storm
← 2000 2002 →

Westchester Flames finished the season as national champions, beating Calgary Storm 3–1 in the PDL Championship game. Calgary Storm finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 18 out of their 20 games, suffering no losses, and finishing with a +38 goal difference.

Changes from the 2000 season

Name changes

• The Colorado Comets changed their name to the Denver Cougars.
• The Colorado Springs Stampede changed their name to the Colorado Springs Ascent
• The Dayton Gems changed their name to the Dayton Gemini.
• The Miami Tango changed their name to the Miami Strike Force.
• The Texas Rattlers (formerly of the USISL D-3 Pro League) changed their name to the Texas Spurs.
• The Twin Cities Tornado changed their name to the Twin Cities Phoenix.

New teams

11 teams were added for the season, including 8 expansion teams:

Team name	Metro area	Location	Previous affiliation
Calgary Storm	Calgary area	Calgary, AB	expansion
Cape Cod Crusaders	Cape Cod area	Hyannis, MA	from USISL D-3 Pro League
Chesapeake Dragons	Baltimore-Washington area	Germantown, MD	expansion
Chicago Eagles Select	Chicago area	Chicago, IL	expansion
Chicago Fire Reserves	Chicago area	Chicago, IL	expansion
Jersey Falcons	North Jersey area	Jersey City, NJ	expansion
Okanagan Predators	Okanagan Valley area	Kelowna, BC	expansion
Orange County Blue Star	Orange County area	Irvine, CA	from A-League
Southern California Seahorses	Los Angeles Metro area	La Mirada, CA	expansion
Texas Spurs	Dallas-Fort Worth area	Bedford, TX	from USISL D-3 Pro League
West Dallas Kings	Dallas-Fort Worth area	Dallas, TX	expansion

Went on hiatus

• The Wisconsin Rebels went on hiatus for the season, and would return in 2002.

Folded

11 teams folded before the season:

• Abbotsford 86ers Select
• Alabama Saints
• Broward County Wolfpack
• Central Jersey Riptide
• Chicago Sockers
• Lexington Bluegrass Bandits
• Nevada Zephyrs
• New Brunswick Brigade
• Rockford Raptors
• South Florida Future
• Willamette Valley Firebirds

Standings

Legend
Division champion
Team qualified for playoff berth

Central Conference

Great Lakes Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Chicago Fire Reserves	20	15	4	1	49	18	+31	11	72
2	West Michigan Edge	20	13	7	0	50	42	+8	10	62
3	Mid-Michigan Bucks	20	10	9	1	43	46	−3	7	48
4	Indiana Invaders	19	9	9	1	37	41	−4	9	46[a]
5	Kalamazoo Kingdom	20	9	10	1	43	39	+4	6	43
6	Dayton Gemini	19	5	14	0	24	48	−24	3	23[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Dayton and Indiana had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Heartland Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Sioux Falls Spitfire	20	17	2	1	54	19	+35	9	78
2	Des Moines Menace	20	11	7	2	38	23	+15	6	52
3	Chicago Eagles Select	20	8	10	2	33	33	0	4	38
4	Thunder Bay Chill	20	6	13	1	26	48	−22	3	28
5	Twin Cities Phoenix	20	3	17	0	34	61	−27	3	15

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Mid-South Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Texas Spurs	20	16	3	1	68	22	+46	12	77
2	Lafayette Lightning	20	13	5	2	50	49	+1	11	65
3	Louisiana Outlaws	20	7	12	1	40	56	−16	7	36
4	West Dallas Kings	20	6	14	0	33	49	−16	4	28

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Westchester Flames	20	13	4	3	48	25	+23	10	65
2	Brooklyn Knights	19	12	6	1	48	27	+21	8	57[a]
3	Vermont Voltage	20	10	7	3	51	25	+26	8	51
4	New York Freedom	19	10	7	2	41	33	+8	8	50[a]
5	North Jersey Imperials	20	10	7	3	42	40	+2	7	50
6	Cape Cod Crusaders	20	9	8	3	39	36	+3	5	44
7	Chesapeake Dragons	18	4	12	2	30	45	−15	4	22[a]
8	Jersey Falcons	20	1	19	0	19	89	−70	2	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Both Brooklyn and New York had games against Chesapeake postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Games in question were cancelled since they had no bearing on playoffs.

Southeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Cocoa Expos	20	14	5	1	55	37	+18	9	66
2	Miami Strike Force	20	13	7	0	46	38	+8	8	60
3	Bradenton Academics	19	9	9	1	40	34	+6	6	43[a]
4	Central Florida Kraze	20	8	11	1	37	36	+1	4	37
5	Tampa Bay Hawks	20	6	12	2	39	41	−2	6	32
6	Palm Beach Pumas	19	6	12	1	30	58	−28	4	29[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Bradenton and Palm Beach had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Western Conference

Rocky Mountain Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Denver Cougars	20	15	4	1	63	28	+35	11	72
2	Boulder Nova	19	11	8	0	46	35	+11	10	54[a]
3	Wichita Jets	19	7	12	0	29	52	−23	5	33[a]
4	Colorado Springs Ascent	19	4	14	1	32	63	−31	6	23[a]
5	Kansas City Brass	17	2	15	0	27	53	−26	4	12[a]

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Wichita all had games with Kansas City postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Games in question were cancelled since they had no bearing on playoffs.

Northwest Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Calgary Storm	20	18	2	0	47	9	+38	8	80
2	Seattle Sounders Select	19	14	5	0	42	23	+19	7	63[a]
3	Spokane Shadow	20	12	8	0	42	31	+11	6	54
4	Cascade Surge	20	7	13	0	27	42	−15	3	31
5	Yakima Reds	19	5	13	1	20	44	−24	1	22[a]
6	Okanagan Predators	20	2	17	1	18	47	−29	1	10

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. Seattle and Yakima had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Southwest Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Orange County Blue Star	20	14	6	0	51	34	+17	10	66
2	Southern California Seahorses	20	13	6	1	56	30	+26	9	62
3	Central Coast Roadrunners	20	12	8	0	53	35	+18	8	56
4	San Fernando Valley Heroes	20	7	11	2	38	43	−5	5	35
5	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	20	1	17	2	12	83	−71	1	7

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs

Conference Semifinals

Conference Finals

National Semifinals

PDL Championship Game

H

Des Moines

bye

H

Des Moines

1

NW

Calgary

2

NW

Calgary

2

SW

Orange County

1

NW

Calgary

3

WC

Seattle

0

RM

Denver

1

WC

Seattle

3

NW

Calgary

1

NE1

Westchester

3

HL

Sioux Falls

3

WC

Lafayette

1

HL

Sioux Falls

1

GL

Chicago

0

MS

Texas

0

GL

Chicago

1

HL

Sioux Falls

1

NE1

Westchester

5

SE1

Cocoa

3

NE2

Brooklyn

2

SE1

Cocoa

1

NE1

Westchester

3

NE1

Westchester

2

SE2

Miami

1

Third place game

	Third Place Game
	H	Des Moines	0
	HL	Sioux Falls	1

^[1]

Conference semifinals

July 27, 2001

Denver Cougars	1–3	Seattle Sounders Select

Santa Ana Stadium
Santa Ana, California

Attendance: 50

---

July 27, 2001

Orange County Blue Star	1–2	Calgary Storm
	Report	33' Damir Jesic 68' (pen.) Mark McKenna

Santa Ana Stadium
Santa Ana, California

Attendance: 211

---

July 28, 2001

6:00 PM

Westchester Flames	2–1	Miami Strike Force
Jeff Matteo Rocky Bojovic 53'	Report	46' Matlas Asorey

Cocoa Expo Sports Center
Cocoa, Florida

---

July 28, 2001

6:00 PM

Texas Spurs	0–1 (OT)	Chicago Fire Reserves
	Report	119' Jordan Smith

McEneaney Field
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

---

July 28, 2001

8:00 PM

Cocoa Expos	3–2	Brooklyn Knights
Jordy Broder David Atkinson Ivan Blount	Report

Cocoa Expo Sports Center
Cocoa, Florida

---

July 28, 2001

8:00 PM

Sioux Falls Spitfire	3–1	Lafayette Lightning
Fabio Eidelwein 27' (pen.) Matt Byers 57', 65'	Report	36' Glenn Benjamin

McEneaney Field
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Attendance: 2,248

Conference Finals

July 28, 2001

Calgary Storm	3–0	Seattle Sounders Select
Mark McKenna 53' Chris Lemire 68' Felix Napuri 90'	Report

Santa Ana Stadium
Santa Ana, California

Attendance: 45

---

July 29, 2001

7:00 PM

Cocoa Expos	1–3	Westchester Flames
Robin Chan 41'	Report	39' Hector Navarrete 49' Juan Gomez 54' Radoslav Bojovic

Cocoa Expo Sports Center
Cocoa, Florida

---

July 29, 2001

7:30 PM

Sioux Falls Spitfire	1–0	Chicago Fire Reserves
Fabio Eidelwein 18'	Report

McEneaney Field
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Attendance: 1,826

National Semifinals

August 3, 2001

6:00 PM

Sioux Falls Spitfire	1–5	Westchester Flames
Robb Rolfing 75:42'		30', 73:28' Oliver Medina-Filgueira 46', 76' Radoslav Bojovic 60' Ive Grando

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

---

August 3, 2001

8:00 PM

Des Moines Menace	1–2 (OT)	Calgary Storm
Barry Lavety 46'	Report	34' 96' Damir Jesic

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

Attendance: 1,500

---

Third Place Match

August 4, 2001

4:30 PM

Des Moines Menace	0–1	Sioux Falls Spitfire
	Report	58' Dan Watson

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

PDL Championship Game

August 4, 2001

7:05 PM

Calgary Storm	1–3	Westchester Flames
Chris Lemire 32'		11' Hector Navarette 58', 77' Evaud Thompson

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa