Toronto Lynx

Football club infobox
clubname = Toronto Lynx


fullname = Toronto Lynx Soccer Club
nickname = The Lynx
founded = 1997
ground = Centennial Park Stadium
capacity = 3,500
chairman = flagicon|Canada Nicole Hartrell
manager = flagicon|England Duncan Wilde
league = USL Premier Development League
season = 2008
position = 3rd, Great Lakes Division
Playoff Divisional Round

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Toronto Lynx is a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1997. The team is a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and play in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference against teams from Charleston, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pontiac.

The Lynx play their home games at various stadia around the city of Toronto: primarily at Centennial Park Stadium in Etobicoke, Ontario, but also at Varsity Stadium on the campus of the University of Toronto, at Brian Timmis Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, and at Edelweiss Park in Bolton, Ontario. The team's colours are white, gold and black.

The team has a sister organization, the Toronto Lady Lynx, who play in the women's USL W-League, and 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.

2008 Roster

*"See also List of Toronto Lynx transfers 2008-09."

taff

* Duncan Wilde "Head Coach"
* Billy Steele "Assistant Coach"
* Rick Titus "Assistant Coach"
* Glen McNamara "Goalkeeper Coach"
* Dr. Robert Gringmuth "Medical Coordinator"
* Dr. Frank Markus "Team Doctor"

Year-by-year

Competition History

The Toronto Lynx announced its expansion rights in Toronto on June 24, 1996, and played their first A-League game in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 12, 1997. The Toronto Lynx set an A-League record of 10 consecutive wins during their first season in 1997. In 2000, the Lynx proceeded to the Eastern Conference Finals and only a 1-0 loss to the Rochester Raging Rhinos kept the Lynx out of the A-League Championship game. Despite these temporary successes, over the years it spent in the A-League (later renamed USL-D1), the team fared relatively poorly on the field and ultimately failed to consistently draw crowds of more than about 2000 people.
Peter Pinizzotto was the Toronto Lynx head coach from 1997 to 2003. The team made one playoff appearance under his reign. The next season he would be hired as assistant coach for rivals Montreal Impact. In September 2003, Duncan Wilde was appointed as the new Toronto Lynx head coach for the 2004 season bringing a new philosophy and vision for the club. Wilde also holds the position of Director of the Toronto Lynx Premier Soccer Academy and Super Y-League Program for accomplishing the mission of developing and inspiring youth soccer talent in the Greater Toronto Area. After just one season, Wilde resigned from his head coaching position amidst rumours of owner interference in squad selection. During the 2005 season the team was managed by former Lynx goalkeeper Hubert Busby Jr., though Wilde returned as head coach for the 2006 season.

During their time in the A-League and USL First Division, the Lynx were noted for developing a number of notable players, but failed to retain most of them for long, leading to poor results in the league standings. On October 10, 2006, the Lynx announced their move to the USL Premier Development League. The reasons for this were never fully revealed, but it was most likely due to their low attendance (lowest in the USL 1st Division) and the fact that Major League Soccer expansion franchise Toronto FC would be arriving the next season. [ [http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/151864.html United Soccer Leagues (USL) ] ]

International friendlies

*September 7, 1998 - Toronto Lynx 2, Persepolis 0 (Iranian First Division champions), Persepolis fielded a reserve team
*June 5, 1999 - Santa Clara 2 (Portuguese First Division), Toronto Lynx 1
*June 6, 2000 - Reggina (Italian Serie A) 2, Toronto Lynx 0
*May 14, 2002 - Toronto Lynx 1, 1860 Munich 0 (German Bundesliga)

Notable former players

* Andres Arango
* Robbie Aristodemo
* Richard Asante
* Darren Baxter
* Lloyd Barker
* Nikola Budalić
* Matias Casares
* Dwayne De Rosario
* David Diplacido
* Jamie Dodds
* Charles Gbeke
* Ali Gerba
* Atiba Hutchinson
* Kevin Jeffrey
* Milan Kojic
* Joe Mattacchione
* John Barry Nusum
* Pat Onstad
* Matthew Palleschi
* Chris Pozniak
* Tomasz Radzinski
* Marco Reda
* Adrian Serioux
* Paul Stalteri
* Nikola Vignjević
* Mauricio Vincello
* Chris Williams
* Theo Zagar:"See also cl|Toronto Lynx players."

Club data

All-time leaders (1997- ):
*Goals: Nikola Vignjevic (29).
*Games played: David Diplacido, active, (182).
*Assists: Nikola Vignjevic (24).
*Clean Sheats: Theo Zagar (30.5).

Coaches

* Peter Pinizzotto 1997-2003
* Duncan Wilde 2004
* Hubert Busby Jr. 2005
* Duncan Wilde 2006-date

tadia

* Centennial Park Stadium, Etobicoke, Ontario 2003-date
* Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Ontario 2008 (3 games)
* Brian Timmis Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario 2008 (1 game)
* Edelweiss Park, Bolton, Ontario 2008 (1 game)

Average Attendance

*2008: 1,018
*2007: 1,198 (4th highest in PDL)
*2006:
*2005

References

External links

* [http://www.lynxsoccer.com/site.html Toronto Lynx homepage]