Hampton Roads Piranhas (PDL)

Football club infobox
clubname = Hampton Roads Piranhas


fullname = Hampton Roads Piranhas
nickname = The Piranhas
founded = 2006
ground = Foster Field
capacity = ????
chairman = flagicon|USA Marcie Laumann
manager = flagicon|USA Jon Hall
league = USL Premier Development League
season = 2008
position = 3rd, Mid Atlantic Division

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Hampton Roads Piranhas are an American soccer team, originally founded in 2006 as the Virginia Beach Submariners as part of the development system of the now-defunct USL First Division franchise, the Virginia Beach Mariners . 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 Mid-Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in against teams from Fredericksburg, Reading, Richmond, Williamsburg and Woodbridge.

They enjoyed an unbeaten initial regular season in 2007, winning 14 and drawing 2 of their 16 games. Their first defeat in regular season play came when they lost 1-0 at home to the Northern Virginia Royals on May 10th 2008.

The Piranhas play their home games at Foster Field on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan College in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The team's colors are red and white.

The team has a sister organization, the Hampton Roads Piranhas Women, 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

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL PDL Regular Season Champions 2007
* USL PDL Mid Atlantic Division Champions 2007
* USL PDL Mid Atlantic Division Champions 2006

Competition History

The Virginia Beach Submariners entered the PDL in 2006 as the new development arm of the Virginia Beach Mariners USL First Division franchise. The Submariners were hot from the get-go; the team rattled off fourt straight wins in their first four competitive games, highlighted by a dominant 3-0 win over Ocean City Barons in their home debut. The Submariners' excellent early form also took them to the US Open Cup for the first time, but they lost first time out, 3-1 to USL Second Division side Wilmington Hammerheads. June was almost as good as May, winning four of their five games, and putting six goals past Northern Virginia Royals off goals by Edson Elcock and Daniel Haywood, but towards the end of the year the team stuttered a little, crawling over the finish line off the back of a 3-2 final day loss to West Virginia Chaos, and having lost two of their previous four games. Despite this, the Submariners still finished top of the Mid Atlantic Division, three points ahead of second place Williamsburg Legacy, and into the playoffs at the first attempt. Unfortunately, their late season poor form continued into the post season, as they were beaten 3-1 by the Westchester Flames in the conference semi-finals. Caetano Lima, Daniel Haywood and Edson Elcock all posted impressive scoring tallies, netting 19 times between them, while Jared Kent registered 7 assists.

On March 30, 2007, it was announced that the Virginia Beach Mariners, the parent club of the Submariners, had folded due to lack of local ownership; at the time, the fate of the Submariners remained unclear. One week later, on April 6, 2007, the Hampton Roads Piranhas W-League club took control of the Submariners, and renamed them to reflect the new ownership.

The newly-named Piranhas were magnificent in 2007. The team was unbeaten the entire season, winning 14 of their 16 games, and finishing the year with the overall best regular season record in the country. The Piranhas utterly dominated their opponents; they didn't concede a goal until 11th game of the season, a 1-1 tie with Reading Rage, and only let in 7 goals all season, with goalkeeper Evan Newton having the best stats of any shot-stopper in the year. In front of goal the Piranhas were no less potent, beating Northern Virginia Royals 4-0 in May, putting 5 goals past them in the return fixture in June, and destroying Delaware Dynasty 7-1 on the road in July, when Aaron Wheeler and Zach Kinney both scored hat tricks. A strong run through the playoffs seemed inevitable, but the Piranhas were shockingly beaten on penalties by Brooklyn Knights after a 1-1 tie in the conference semi-final. Andrew Wheeler was the club's top scorer, with 14 goals.

James River Cup

The James River Cup was an annual competition held between the Richmond Kickers and the Virginia Beach Mariners (formerly Hampton Roads Mariners) in which the team with the most points at the conclusion of all scheduled matches between the two teams. The Cup was held every year since 1996 with the exception of 1997 and 2001 when Virginia Beach did not field a team. In 2007, the Virginia Beach team was disbanded.

For the 2008 season, the James River Cup was contested between the Richmond Kickers organization and the Hampton Roads Piranhas organization. The cup went to the organization that had the most points in games between their PDL and W-League teams. The series ended up tied 2-2-1, with the Piranhas winning the Cup on goal difference.

Winners

*2008: Hampton Roads Piranhas
*2007: Not Held
*2006: Virginia Beach Mariners
*2005: Richmond Kickers
*2004: Richmond Kickers
*2003: Richmond Kickers
*2002: Richmond Kickers
*2001: Not Held
*2000: Richmond Kickers
*1999: Richmond Kickers
*1998: Richmond Kickers
*1997: Not Held
*1996: Hampton Roads Mariners

Notable former players

* Corey Ashe
* Edson Elcock
* Jakob Fenger-Larsen
* Cooper Friend
* John Gilkerson
* David Horst
* Yomby William

Coaches

* Jon Hall 2006-date

tadia

* Virginia Beach Sportsplex, Virginia Beach, Virginia 2006-07
* Foster Field, Virginia Beach, Virginia 2008-date

Average Attendance

*2008: 482
*2007: 441
*2006: 221

External links

* [http://www.hrpiranhas.com Hampton Roads Piranhas]
* [http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/home/176266.html Press Release announcing Hampton Roads Piranhas Mens PDL Team]