Cleveland City Stars

Cleveland City Stars

Full name	Cleveland City Stars
Nickname(s)	City Stars, City
Founded	2006
Dissolved	2009
Stadium	Middlefield Cheese Stadium Bedford, Ohio (Capacity: 5,000)
Owner	Jonathan Ortlip
Head Coach	Rod Underwood
League	USL First Division
2009	Regular Season: 11th Playoffs: DNQ
Home colors Away colors

Cleveland City Stars was an American professional soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid until 2009.^[1] The club folded soon after the 2009 season.

The team played its home games at Bearcat Stadium (re-named Middlefield Cheese Stadium for sponsorship purposes^[2]) on the campus of Bedford High School in nearby Bedford, Ohio, where they played in 2009. The team's colors were green, black and white. Their final head coach was Rod Underwood.^[3]

History

The Cleveland City Stars were founded in 2006 as a member of the USL Second Division and played their inaugural season in 2007. The team found success early on, going undefeated for the first nine games before losing to the Charlotte Eagles in the tenth game of the season. They ended the regular season undefeated at home, and clinched the second seed for the USL-2 play-offs, where they progressed to the semi-final, and lost to eventual champions Harrisburg 1-0 after extra time.

The team's success continued in 2008 as they finished the regular season unbeaten at home. City posted a 10-3-7 record, which proved good enough for third place in the USL Second Division, and playoff qualification. They faced the Western Mass Pioneers in the quarterfinals and won 4-2. They traveled to Richmond for the semi-final and won 1-0 after extra time. The City Stars hosted the championship game and defeated Charlotte 2-1 for the team's first ever championship.

On December 4, 2008 the team announced that they would compete in the USL First Division for the 2009 season.

Soon after the end of the 2009 USL First Division season, the City Stars club folded due to financial issues.

Players

Final roster

as of October 22, 2009^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 0 GK Evan Bush 1 GK Hunter Gilstrap 2 DF Anthony Peters 3 MF Eric Carpenter 4 DF Ibrahim Kante 6 FW Kolby LaCrone 7 MF Gordon Kljestan 9 FW Teteh Bangura 10 MF Joshua Boateng 11 FW Ricardo Pierre-Louis 12 DF Troy Roberts 14 DF Anthony Stovall

No. Position Player 15 MF Alioune Gueye 16 MF Warren Kanu 17 MF Ryan Stewart 19 DF Stéphane Guillaume 20 DF Stephen Cruickshank 21 MF Steve Gillespie 22 DF Paul Ballard 23 MF Terrence McAllister 24 FW Leo Gibson 25 MF Arsene Oka 27 MF Jason Hotchkin 77 MF Pato Aguilera

Notable former players

• Teteh Bangura
• George Josten
• Ryan Miller
• Adam Moffat
• Musa Otieno
• Mark Schulte
• Israel Sesay
• Jed Zayner
• See also: All-time Cleveland City Stars roster

Year-by-year

Year	Division	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup	Avg. Attendance
2007	3	USL Second Division	2nd	Semifinals	2nd Round	1,417
2008	3	USL Second Division	3rd	Champions	3rd Round	1,634
2009	2	USL First Division	11th	Did not qualify	2nd Round	1,491

Honours

• USL Second Division
  • Winners (1): 2008

Head coaches

• Martin Rennie (2007–2008)
• Rod Underwood (2009)

Stadia

• Krenzler Field; Cleveland, Ohio (2007–2008)
• Middlefield Cheese Stadium at Bedford High School; Bedford, Ohio (2009–present)

Additional Club Information

Television

On April 7, 2008, the City Stars announced a deal with SportsTime Ohio that will see all of the team's home games aired on the station. Each match will air tape delayed on game night. Replays will be aired on Sundays. Play-by-play and color commentary will be provided by Desmond Armstrong, 1994 World Cup TV commentator and former US national team player, and Glen Duerr, a former City Stars player. The broadcast will also include a half time segment highlighting the team's weekly inner-city coaching and life-lessons program.

On April 6, 2009, the City Stars announced a new deal with SportsTime Ohio to air 12 home games. Returning is Glen Duerr and two new TV commentators Mark Zimmerman, Steve Bell. Bell is a former A-League (USL-1) and MLS player. Bell also will do the play-by-play for 3 out of 5 games on Fox Soccer Channel.

Green Army Supporters Club

The Green Army is the team's supporters group. They were founded in April 2007 and usually number around 20 to 30 members every game. They sing English-style songs, and their enthusiasm has been embraced by the team. Last season some players stood with the Army when they were injured or not dressed for the game. The group has a group on Facebook with more than 100 members and an online forum.

The Army has an alliance with the Rochester Stampede, the supporters group from the Rochester Rhinos. The Stampede came to Cleveland in the 2007 season to cheer on the Stars and support the Green Army during the playoff game versus the Harrisburg City Islanders.

References

1. ^ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2009/12/02/cleveland-city-stars-release-players-from-contracts/
2. ^ http://clevelandcitystars.com/slides/444-city-stars-to-play-in-bedford
3. ^ http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/304626.html
4. ^ http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/2009/6188095.html#MAIN

External links

• Official Site of the Cleveland City Stars
• Official site of the United Soccer Leagues
• Official Green Army Forum

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