Salinas Valley Samba

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Salinas Valley Samba
Image:Sambalogo.jpg
Full name Salinas Valley Samba
Nickname(s) The Samba
Founded 2004
Ground Salinas High School
Capacity ????
Chairman Cain White
Manager Artie Cairel
League National Premier Soccer League
2006 6th, did not qualify for playoffs
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Salinas Valley Samba are an American soccer team, founded in 2004. The team is a member of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and play in the Northwest Conference against teams from Chico, Redwood City, Sacramento, San Jose and Santa Rosa.

The Samba play their home matches in The Pit at Salinas High School in the city of Salinas, California, the alma mater of John Steinbeck. Prior to the 2005 season, the Samba played home games in a variety of different venues, including the Aptos Polo Grounds. The team's colors are silver, black and white.

Contents

[edit] Current squad

As of October 13, 2006

No. Position Player
United States   Ahmad Ahmad
United States   Robert Arteaga
United States   Pierre Bernasconi
United States DF Chris Bessemer
United States   Mike Bielski
United States   Joseph Cairel
United States   Raul Cisneros
United States   Ivan Campos
United States   Mike Clark
United States   David Cordova
United States   Ryan Callahan
United States   Jason Dal Porto
United States FW David Estrada
United States MF David Frank
United States   Arnulfo Gomez
United States   Julio Gonzalez
United States   Ramon Hernandez
United States   Tommy Hernandez
No. Position Player
United States FW Ismael Ibarra
United States   Stephen Lopez
United States   Nick Lackey
United States GK Kyle Matthews
United States GK Cristian Materrazi
United States   Isaias Olivo
United States   Sergio Perez
United States   Lee Pricer
United States   John Ramirez
United States   Jonathon Reedy
United States   Erik Ruggiero
United States   Oscar Renteria
United States MF Joel Sanchez
United States   Lino Sanchez
United States   Ronnie Silva
United States   Jeffrey Stepan
United States   Nic Torricelli
United States   Armando Volpini

[edit] History

The Samba joined the MPSL at the end of the inaugural 2003 season, along with the Albuquerque Asylum, the Sonoma Valley Sol, the Sacramento Knights, and the Idaho Wolves. During their first season of play, the Samba finished the league in 5th place, five points behind the Utah Salt Ratz, who ultimately finished the season as league champions.

The 2005 season saw the development of location-specific conferences as more teams were added to the league. This placed Salinas Valley in the Western Conference, with a majority of California teams (with the exception of the Las Vegas Strikers and the Albuquerque Asylum.) The expansion of the league in 2006 brought further development of the conferences, as the Western Conference split into "Northwestern" and "Southwestern", and a Midwestern conference was added. The Salinas Valley Samba are currently in the Northwestern Conference.

The Samba finished the 2005 season in 4th place. Also in 2005 the Samba advanced to the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before being defeated by the Seattle Sounders.

In 2006, they finished the year in 6th place.

[edit] Year-by-year

Year Division League Reg. Season Playoffs Open Cup
2004 "4" MPSL 5th Did not qualify Did not qualify
2005 "4" NPSL 4th, Western Did not qualify Second Round
2006 "4" NPSL 6th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify

[edit] Citations

NPSL at The American Soccer History Archives
The Samba sensation - team loaded with Santa Cruz players June 8, 2005
USOpenCup.com standings for 2005
Sounders dance past Samba

[edit] External links