The 2014 USL Premier Development League season was the 20th season of the PDL. The regular season began on May 3 and ended July 20. The regular season was followed by a postseason tournament of conference winners to determine the league's champion. Seven teams were added to the league and seven left, keeping the total number of teams in the league at 64 across 10 divisions with the addition of the Mountain Division. The Austin Aztex were the defending champions.
Changes from 2013
New teams Seven new clubs joined the PDL in 2014.
Team name Metro area Location Previous affiliation Montreal Impact U23 Greater Montreal Montreal, Quebec CSL Pittsburgh Riverhounds U23 Pittsburgh metropolitan area Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania expansion Cincinnati Dutch Lions Greater Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio expansion Albuquerque Sol FC Albuquerque metropolitan area Albuquerque, New Mexico expansion Las Vegas Mobsters Las Vegas–Paradise, Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada expansion Lane United FC Lane County, Oregon Eugene, Oregon expansion San Jose Earthquakes U-23 Santa Clara County, California San Jose, California expansion
Name Changes Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy became Floridians FC. West Texas Sockers became Midland/Odessa Sockers. NJ-LUSO Rangers FC became NJ-LUSO Parma. North Sound SeaWolves became Puget Sound Gunners FC. OC Blues Strikers FC became OC Pateadores Blues
Folding/moving Central Jersey Spartans - Folded El Paso Patriots - Folded Kansas City Brass - Folded Oklahoma City FC - Withdrew - joined NPSL, new team to play in the 2015 NASL Ottawa Fury - Folded, new Ottawa Fury FC team plays in the NASL VSI Tampa Bay FC - Folded Virginia Beach Piranhas - Folded Chicago Inferno - Folded mid-season
Divisions The schedule and divisions were announced January 31 with each team to play a 14-game schedule. The Western Conference was split into three divisions (Northwest, Southwest and Mountain).
Standings 2014 Premier Development League standings.Official Standings Key to colours in group tablesTeam in position to win Division Title Team in position to qualify for playoff berth
Note: The first tie-breaker in PDL standings is head-to-head results between teams tied on points, which is why some teams with inferior goal differences finish ahead in the standings.
Central Conference
Great Lakes Division
Heartland Division <onlyinclude>
Eastern Conference
Mid Atlantic Division
Northeast Division
South Atlantic Division
Southern Conference
Mid South Division
Southeast Division
Western Conference
Mountain Division
Northwest Division
Southwest Division
Conference Championships Participants in the four conference championships were determined according to the specific rules of each conference. In the two-division Central and Southern Conferences, the top two teams from each division meet in a conference final four. In the Eastern and Western Conferences, both of which are broken into three divisions, additional quarterfinal matches were required. In the Western Conference, two teams from the Northwest Division advanced to the conference final four: the division champion and the winner of a match between the division's second- and third-place teams. The first-place teams from the Mountain and Southwest divisions met the second-place teams of the other division to determine the final two participants. In the Eastern Conference the winner of a match between the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic divisions' second-place teams advanced to the final four along with the three division champions.
Eastern Conference Championship
Central Conference Championship
Southern Conference Championship
Western Conference Championship
Playoff Bracket
PDL Championship
Semi-finals
Championship
Championship MVP: Adam Grinwis, (MIB)
Awards Most Valuable Player: Dzenan Catic, (MIB) Young (U21) Player of the Year: Ricardo Velazco (TUC) Coach of the Year: Michael Jeffries, (DMM) Goalkeeper of the Year: Billy Thompson, (TUC)
All-League and All-Conference Teams
Eastern Conference F: Anthony Grant (SUP) *, Jeff McClure (CIN), Alencar Junior (WMA) M: Bolu Akinyode (NJL), Shaun Foster (LIR), Walter Hines (JER) D: Kouassi Sylvain N’Guessan (JER), Jake Stovall (CIN), Tom Wharf (LIR), Travis Brent (WVA) G: Alex Bono (REA)
Central Conference F: Chris Hellmann (DMM) *, Moses Danto (WSA), Dzenan Catic (MIB) * M: Zach Steinberger (MIB) *, Drew Conner (CHI), Ralph Lundy (DMM) D: Nolan Intermoia (THU) *, Ken Tribbett (MIB), Blake Jones (STL), Dan Keller (CHI) G: Yuta Nomura (SPR)
Western Conference F: Javier Castro (LAM), Cody Cook (VAN), Kharlton Belmar (POR) M: Ricardo Velazco (TUC) *, Jose Cuevas (FRE) *, Bryan de la Fuente (LAM) D: Ramon Martin Del Campo (SJO) *, James Kiffe (VEN), Cory Keitz (KIT) *, Jordan Farahani (VAN) G: Billy Thompson (TUC) *
Southern Conference F: Jesus Cortes (AUS), Ilija Ilić (OCA), Adi Kavara (PAN) M: Tony Rocha (AUS), Michael Lightbourne (PAN), Karamba Janneh (OCA) D: Yair Hernandez (LAR) *, Walker Hume (MIO), Ben Knight (OCA), Kalen Ryden (AUS) G: Devin Cook (AUS)
* denotes All-League player
References