Panama City Pirates

Panama City Pirates
Full name Panama City Pirates
Nickname(s) The Pirates
Founded 2007
Stadium Mike Gavlak Stadium
Panama City Beach, Florida
(Capacity: 3,500)
Owner Laird Hitchcock
Head Coach Bill Elliott
League USL Premier Development League
2009 4th, Southeast
did not qualify for playoffs
Home colors
Away colors

Panama City Pirates was an American soccer team based in Panama City Beach, Florida, United States. Founded in 2007, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2010 when the franchise folded and the team left the league.

The team played its home games at Mike Gavlak Stadium on the campus of Arnold High School, where it had played since 2008. The team's colors were black, white and red.

Contents

History

The Panama City Pirates entered the PDL in 2008 to a great deal of local fanfare and publicity, but found the early going tough in competitive terms: they lost their opening two fixtures, both to Central Florida Kraze on consecutive dates, and despite a couple of battling ties, didn't pick up their first victory until the first weekend of June, a dogged 3–2 win at home over Nashville Metros. This seemed to spark a turn in the Pirates' fortunes, as they suddenly became a goalscoring machine. The poor Palm Beach Pumas bore the brunt of the Pirates' new-found prowess in front of goal, being annihilated 6-0, 7-0 and 5-0 in their three games in June. C.D. Harris and Bruno Conceição hit 12 of the Pirates' 18 goals against the Pumas between them, and helped the team enjoy a seven-game unbeaten streak which also included a 1-0 win over Bradenton Academics, and an unexpected 3–-0 victory over the Central Florida Kraze, the latter of which saw them playing with 10 men for over half an hour. Unfortunately for the Pirates, their late-season charge wasn't quite enough for them to make the playoffs, and their last-day defeat to Bradenton left them in 5th place in the Southeast; still an excellent achievement for a first-year franchise. C.D. Harris and Bruno Conceição were the season's top scorers, with 10 and 7 goals respectively.

The team folded in April 2010, just weeks before it the start of the 2010 PDL season, when owners Laird and Nanette Hitchcock informed the league no financial resources with which to continue running the club[1]. The Team was restarted in November 2011 with new Owners Eehab Kenawy, Jill Holt and Amy Dalton. The team now under new management and a new Logo and will be playing in the USL In the 2012 Season.

Players

Final roster

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
1 GK Juan Carlos Garcia
4 MF Kenneth Robinson
5 DF Tom Wharf
6 MF Djamel Bekka
8 MF Robert Cavener
9 FW John Markey
10 MF Ryan Rogers
11 MF Eduardo Oliveira
12 FW C.D. Harris
14 FW Luke Sheekey
15 DF Josh Stewart
16 DF Blaine Veldhuis
No. Position Player
17 MF Hansen Woodruff
18 GK Jimmy McHenry
19 DF Jonah Stewart
20 MF John Dill
23 DF Matt Watts
24 DF Curtis Ushedo
25 DF Eusebio Montoya
27 FW Chandler Hoffman
28 MF Wade Wonderlin
67 DF Stuart Hayers
GK Melford James Jr.
MF Will Moorad

Notable former players

Year-by-year

Year Division League Regular Season Playoffs Open Cup
2008 4 USL PDL 5th, Southeast Did not qualify Did not qualify
2009 4 USL PDL 4th, Southeast Did not qualify Did not qualify

Head coaches

Stadia

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.

References

External links