Cape Cod Crusaders

Football club infobox
clubname = Cape Cod Crusaders


fullname = Cape Cod Crusaders
nickname = The Crusaders
founded = 1994
ground = Massachusetts Maritime Academy
capacity = ????
chairman = flagicon|USA Joe Bradley
manager = flagicon|USA Paul Baber
league = USL Premier Development League
season = 2008
position = 1st, New England Division
Playoff Conference Semifinals

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Cape Cod Crusaders are an American soccer team, founded in 1994. The team is a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and plays in the New England Division of the Eastern Conference against teams from Manchester, Ottawa, Providence and St. Albans.

The Crusaders are one of the most successful minor-league soccer teams in the United States, having been national PDL champions twice, in 2002 and 2003. The team is also one of the most long-lasting teams, having played in four different leagues, at two different levels, over the course of more than a decade. In the mid 2000s the Crusaders became part of the Massachusetts Premier Soccer (MPS) organisation, which runs soccer schools and north senior and junior amateur leagues across Massachusetts, with the intent of developing and promoting the game.

The Crusaders are currently without a permanent home; they play their home games at several different venues in eastern Massachusetts, including the stadium on the campus of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, at Whitman-Hanson High School in Whitman, Massachusetts, and at Bowditch Stadium in Framingham, Massachusetts. The Crusaders historical home was the stadium on the grounds Barnstable High School in the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts. The team's colors are red and white.

The team has a sister organization, the Boston Renegades, who play in the women's USL W-League. The club also fields a team in the USL’s Super-20 League, a league for players 17 to 20 years of age run under the United Soccer Leagues umbrella.

In 2007, Crusaders striker Ricardo Pierre-Louis was part of the Haiti squad which took part in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Pierre-Louis was the only PDL player to take part in the tournament, coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Costa Rica, and playing a full 90 minutes in the 2-0 defeat to Canada.

2008 Roster

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL PDL New England Division Champion 2008
* USL PDL Northeast Division Champion 2007
* USL PDL New England Division Champion 2006
* USL PDL Northeast Division Champion 2005
* USL PDL Champion 2003
* USL PDL Eastern Conference Champion 2003
* USL PDL Champion 2002
* USL PDL Eastern Conference Champion 2002

Competition History

Notable former players

* David Bulow
* Neil Jones
* Eoin Lynch
* David Mahoney
* Drew McAthy
* Kurt Morsink
* Joseph Ngwenya
* Stanley Nyazamba
* Scott Palguta
* Troy Perkins
* Ricardo Pierre-Louis
* Ricky Schramm
* Dan Stratford
* Luke Vercollone

Coaches

* Paul Baber 2005-date

tadia

* Stadium at Barnstable High School, Hyannis, Massachusetts 2004-07
* Stadium at Nauset Regional High School, North Eastham, Massachusetts 2005 (1 game)
* Stadium at Weymouth High School, Weymouth, Massachusetts 2006 (1 game)
* Stadium at Whitman-Hanson High School, Whitman, Massachusetts 2007-08 (3 games)
* Stadium at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts 2008-date
* Stadium at Bridgewater-Raynham High School, Bridgewater, Massachusetts 2008 (1 game)
* Bowditch Stadium, Framingham, Massachusetts 2008 (1 game)

Average Attendance

*2008: 309
*2007: 284
*2006: 330
*2005: 306

External links

* [http://www.mpsbr.com Cape Cod Crusaders/Massachusetts Premier Soccer]