Tuesday, May 12, 2009
 

TAMPA, FL - The Great Lakes Division is one of the most competitive divisions across the 68 team Premier Development League. Featuring perennial PDL powers the Michigan Bucks and Chicago Fire, as well as more recent upstarts Cleveland Internationals, Kalamazoo Outrage and Toronto Lynx, the nine team Great Lakes Division promises to be even more competitive in 2009. The following is the second of three installments previewing the Great Lakes Division:

The Kalamazoo Outrage made it to the Central Conference Final in their rookie season, upsetting the Chicago Fire and Regular Season Champion Michigan Bucks before falling to eventual PDL Champion, Thunder Bay Chill. Key losses for the Outrage are the team’s top two scorers from 2008, Mark Briggs (now with USL-2’s Wilmington Hammerheads) and Alan McGreal (with FC London). Also gone is 2008 All-Conference defender, Terry Alvino. Key returning players for first-year Head Coach Mark Spooner are midfielder Eric Alexander (Indiana), goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt (Oakland), and defender Lance Muckey (Evansville). Joining the 2008 veterans are Michigan State teammates and brothers Mark and Domenic Barone as well as Alexander’s Hoosier teammate Dan Kelly. Kalamazoo will kickoff the 2009 season away to Cleveland on Wednesday, May 13, at 7:00 PM.
 

Quotable: “Mark [Spooner] has a good idea of what this team accomplished in 2008 and he’s very much committed to putting another competitive team on the field this season.” –Technical Director Rich Ladabie

“We’re going to get an early look at how well we stack up with our first two games against Cleveland and Michigan, both of which qualified for the playoffs in 2008.” – Head Coach Mark Spooner

Expansion side Forest City London will try to replicate Kalamazoo’s 2008 success and Head Coach Martin Painter will look to former Outrage striker Alan McGreal to lead the way offensively. London also brings in three players that were with PDL teams last year in goalkeeper Scott Cliff (Thunder Bay Chill) and defenders Anthony Diabase (Toronto Lynx) and Taylor Rice (New Orleans Jesters). Canadian U-20 international Mike Pereira (Providence College) along with Michael Arnold will shore up Forest City’s midfield.  Hannibal LaGrange College attackers Kevin Zimmerman Cuevas (Mexico) and Estevao Franco (Brazil) will add international flair to the side and look to support McGreal up front. FC London still has some time to finalize their roster while the American teams try to qualify for the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Forest City will take their opening bow in the PDL on Friday, May 29 when they visit the Cleveland Internationals. Before that, FC London will participate in the inaugural Victoria Challenge Cup with other Ontario-based PDL clubs, Toronto, Thunder Bay and Ottawa, May 15-17.  

Quotable: “We’re looking forward to our first season in the Premier Development League and we expect the competition to be very high given the quality of franchise in the Great Lakes Division.” – Head Coach Martin Painter

The Indiana Invaders enter the new season looking for their first PDL playoff appearance since 2003, after narrowly missing the post season last year. Player/Head Coach Mamba Chisoni returns for another season and brings back the team’s leading scorer from 2008, Saidi Isaac. Also returning for Indiana are midfielder James Urbany, goalkeeper Justin Holmes (New Mexico) and striker Alhaji Kamara (West Texas College). Indiana’s attack has been strengthened this season with the signings of former Deportivo Ñublense (Chile) midfielder Rodrigo Sanhueza and striker Frederick Were (Lindsey Wilson College). The Invaders kick off the 2009 season at Fort Wayne on Wednesday, May 13 at 8:00 PM.