The 2011 National Premier Soccer League season was the 9th season of the NPSL. The regular season began on April 1, 2011, and ended on July 17. The playoffs concluded with the NPSL Championship Game, which was held at the home of Rocket City United in Madison, Alabama on July 30.

National Premier Soccer League
Official 2011 NPSL Championship logo
Season2011
ChampionsJacksonville United
Matches played220
Goals scored710 (3.23 per match)
Biggest home win11–0, Hollywood United Hitmen over Real San Jose
Biggest away win9–0, Madison 56ers over Eau Claire Aris
Highest scoring12 goals, Bay Area Ambassadors 4–8 Lancaster Rattlers
2010
2012

Jacksonville United ended the season as national champions, beating the Hollywood United Hitmen 3–2 in the 2011 NPSL Championship game.[1] Jacksonville were the lowest seeded-team in the playoffs, having finished champions of the Southeast Division with a 6–0–4 record after starting their campaign with four straight losses, and beat number one seed and Northeast Division champions Erie Admirals on their way to the final. Both Jacksonville and Hollywood were first-year NPSL teams, although Hollywood had previously spent two seasons playing in the USL Premier Development League.

The Erie Admirals had the best regular season record, with a points-per-game average of 2.583, just ahead of the Hollywood United Hitmen (2.429) and FC Sonic Lehigh Valley (2.417), who were in such a strong division they did not even qualify for the post-season.

Jacksonville striker Tommy Krizanovic scored a hat trick in the NPSL final, and was named MVP of the championship tournament.[2]

Changes From 2010 edit

Name Changes/Rebrands edit

New Franchises edit

  • 13 franchises were announced as joining the league this year:
Team Name Metro Area Location Previous Affiliation
  AC Crusaders Atlantic County area Egg Harbor Township, NJ expansion
  Buxmont Torch FC Montgomery County area Souderton, PA expansion
  Georgia Revolution Rockdale County area Conyers, GA expansion
  FC Hasental Conejo Valley area Thousand Oaks, CA expansion
  Hollywood United Hitmen Los Angeles area Los Angeles, CA USL Premier Development League
  Jacksonville United Jacksonville area Jacksonville, FL expansion
  Knoxville Force Knoxville area Knoxville, TN expansion
  Lancaster Rattlers Antelope Valley area Lancaster, CA USL Premier Development League
  Mass United Boston area Boston, MA expansion
  Quad City Eagles Quad Cities area Moline, IL expansion
  San Diego Flash San Diego area San Diego, CA USL A-League
  Santa Ana Winds Orange County area Santa Ana, CA expansion
  Seacoast United Phantoms Rockingham County area Hampton, NH expansion

Folding edit

Standings edit

Purple indicates division title clinched
Green indicates playoff berth clinched

Northeast Division - Atlantic Conference edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 Brooklyn Italians 10 7 1 2 26 11 +15 22
2 Seacoast United Phantoms 10 5 1 4 16 19 -3 16
3 New York Red Bulls NPSL 10 4 3 3 16 11 +5 15
4 New York Athletic Club 10 4 3 3 15 12 +3 15
5 Morris County Colonials 10 2 3 5 13 21 -8 9
6 Mass United 10 2 1 7 13 25 -12 7

Northeast Division - Keystone Conference edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 Erie Admirals 12 10 1 1 30 11 +19 31
2 FC Sonic Lehigh Valley 12 9 2 1 25 7 +18 29
3 Reading Revolution 12 8 1 3 28 13 +15 25
4 AC Crusaders 12 6 3 3 27 15 +12 21
5 FC Buffalo 12 5 1 6 21 15 +6 16
6 Pocono Snow 12 2 2 8 11 27 -16 8
7 Buxmont Torch FC 12 2 0 10 11 36 -25 6
8 New Jersey Blaze 12 1 0 11 12 41 -29 3

Southeast Division edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 Jacksonville United 10 6 0 4 16 12 +4 18
2 Georgia Revolution 10 5 3 2 20 15 +5 18
3 Chattanooga FC 10 5 2 3 15 10 +5 17
4 Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves 10 4 2 4 14 13 +1 14
5 Knoxville Force 10 3 1 6 7 16 -9 10
6 Rocket City United 10 3 0 7 12 18 -6 9
7 FC Tulsa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

*Note: Jacksonville finished ahead of Georgia as NPSL rules state that the second tiebreaker after total points is number of victories. FC Tulsa chose not to compete in league play in 2011, and only played in the US Open Cup qualification tournament.

Midwest Division edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 Milwaukee Bavarians 12 8 2 2 25 9 +16 26
2 Quad City Eagles 12 6 5 1 27 11 +16 23
3 Madison 56ers 12 6 3 3 34 14 +20 21
4 Minnesota TwinStars FC 12 6 1 5 23 15 +8 19
5 Chicago Fire NPSL 12 4 3 5 18 16 +2 15
6 Minnesota Kings 12 2 2 8 9 34 -25 8
7 Eau Claire Aris 12 1 2 9 8 45 -37 5

West Division - Flight Northwest edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 Hollywood United Hitmen 14 11 1 2 54 14 +40 34
2 Sacramento Gold 14 7 4 3 30 20 +10 25
3 Sonoma County Sol 14 7 3 4 38 23 +15 24
4 Bay Area Ambassadors 14 2 1 11 19 48 -29 7
5 Real San Jose 14 2 0 12 11 45 -34 6

West Division - Flight Southwest edit

Place Team Pld. W T L GF GA GD Points
1 San Diego Flash 14 10 1 3 37 16 +21 31
2 Santa Ana Winds FC 14 8 2 4 25 19 +6 26
3 FC Hasental 14 6 3 5 27 27 0 21
4 San Diego Boca 14 6 1 7 29 32 -3 19
5 Lancaster Rattlers 14 3 0 11 26 52 -26 9

Source: [1]

NPSL Playoffs edit

Format edit

Bracket edit

Division Semifinals Division Finals National Semifinals National Final
K1 Erie Admirals 1
A1 Brooklyn Italians 0
1 Erie Admirals 2
4 Jacksonville United 4
4 Jacksonville United 3
2 Hollywood United Hitmen 2
3 Milwaukee Bavarians 0
NW1 Hollywood United Hitmen 3 2 Hollywood United Hitmen 3
SW2 Santa Ana Winds FC 1 NW1 Hollywood United Hitmen 1
SW1 San Diego Flash 1 NW2 Sacramento Gold 0
NW2 Sacramento Gold 2

Northeast Division Playoffs edit

Erie Admirals1 - 0Brooklyn Italians
Colton   72' Report

West Division Playoffs edit

Hollywood United Hitmen3 - 1Santa Ana Winds
Bentil   17'
Whitfield   31'
Blanco   50'
Report Hernandez   10'
G. Piechota   35'
Attendance: 165
Referee: Omar Meza (USA)


Hollywood United Hitmen1 - 0Sacramento Gold
Blanco   45' Report C. Sandoval   28'
Madu   44'
Attendance: 135
Referee: Daniel Radford (USA)

NPSL Championship Tournament edit

Semi-finals edit


Erie Admirals2 - 4Jacksonville United
Falconer   22'
Kennedy   58'
Report Williams   42'
Krizanovic   61'
Leyimu   72'
Salafrio   73'

Third Place Playoff edit

Milwaukee Bavarians0 - 5Erie Admirals
Report Falconer   33'   72'
Meehl   67'
Blythe   82'
Howard   88'

NPSL All-Star Game edit

Rocket City United3 - 1NPSL All-Stars
Hyde   27'   61'
Nkurunungi   90'
Report Omondi   63'

NPSL Championship Game edit

Award Winners and Conference Teams edit

MVP: Tommy Krizanovic (JAC)

NPSL All-Star Team edit

F: Jumol Harewood (GEO), Jose Miranda (HOL), Justin Picou (SDB), Afrim Latifi (ERI), Chris Tsonis (SEA)
M: Cody Antonini (SLV), Carlington Lamont (REA), Carlos McCrary (MAD), Kingsley Morgan (ATL), Anthony Santaga (MAD), Billy Sweatra (ACC), Tyler Williams (JAC)
D: Peassio Denev (ECA), Adrian Kawuba (MAS), Marcos Mendez (GEO), Joseph Omondi (RCU), Corey Phillips (BUF), Dan Sauerhoff (MCC), Andy Stewart (CFC)
G: Zach Brunner (LAN), Thomas Hunter (CFC)[4]

2011 National Championship Best 11 edit

F: Tommy Krizanovic (JAC), Brent Whitfield (HOL)
M: Arturo Albarrán (HOL), Gavin Falconer (ERI), Amilcar Herrera (MIL), Shane Howard (ERI), Ramak Safi (JAC)
D: Jacobi Goodfellow (JAC), Garrett Teague (JAC), Marcus Watson (HOL)
G: Stuart McCrory (JAC)[5]

U.S. Open Cup Qualifying edit

Four NPSL clubs gained berths to the 2011 U.S. Open Cup, one each from the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West divisions.[6]

Northeast Division edit


Southeast Division edit

First round edit

Knoxville Force0 - 1Jacksonville United
Report Williams   53'

Rocket City United7 - 1FC Tulsa
Hyde   13'   22'   33'   64'
Nkurunungi   59'
Nunez   80'
Omondi   88'
Report Cottage   31'

Second round edit

Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves3 - 1Jacksonville United
Nandi   28'
Morgan   86'
Duque   90+'
Report Williams   23'

Final edit

Midwest Division edit

Madison 56ers were granted the automatic berth for the Midwest Division by virtue of their 2010 division championship. The Midwest was the only NPSL division granting its 2011 U.S. Open Cup berth based on performance in the 2010 season.[7]

West Division edit

The Hollywood United Hitmen were given the berth for the West Division as a result of being the team with the best record over the first seven games of the 2011 regular season.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Krizanovic Leads Jacksonville to the NPSL Championship". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  2. ^ "2011 National Championships' Best 11". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  3. ^ Silverbacks Reserves to Play in NPSL
  4. ^ "2011 NPSL All-Star Team". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  5. ^ "2011 National Championships' Best 11". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  6. ^ "NPSL In The US Open Cup - National Premier Soccer League". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  7. ^ "Madison 56ers awarded NPSL Midwest US Open Cup spot".
  8. ^ "2011 US Open Cup qualifying update: Hollywood claims NPSL West berth after league ruling".