The Spring half of the Eastern Premier Soccer League (EPSL) is set to kick off the first week in March, so we figured now would be a good time to get caught up with where things stand after the Fall half of the season. EPSL play a traditional European soccer calendar schedule, with a single season from September to June, including a winter break. The conference leaders after the Fall half of the season are: Fall River FC in the Northeast Conference, Lansdowne Yonkers FC in the Metropolitan Conference, Inter Vidas in the Delaware River Conference and Nova FC in the Mid-Atlantic Conference.

With the winter break set to conclude and games resuming in March across all conferences, I recently spoke with Pat Murphy, EPSL Media Director, to get us up to date and talk all things EPSL:

When will the EPSL regular season conclude and when will the playoffs start?

The EPSL regular season aims to conclude the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. We always anticipate that 1-2 clubs need a makeup match, especially if they commit to state and national cups. Playoffs kick off the week after Memorial Day and conclude the last weekend in June with an inter-conference finals weekend, known as "The Final 4," where we crown our EPSL Champion.

How many teams from each conference make the playoffs and what is the playoff structure?

As EPSL central, we simply require each conference to send a representative to the Final 4. For the Final 4, we do a random draw of the conferences and run a single elimination semi-final and final at a neutral site, over the course of one weekend. Conferences are given autonomy regarding how they want to operate their conference playoffs. We review what the conferences inform us of and give them approval. Last year, Metropolitan Conference, Northeast Conference, and Mid-Atlantic Conference had a 4 team playoff, single elimination format at the higher seed’s home site. Delaware River Conference had a 3 team playoff, where seeds 2 and 3 faced off to play seed 1 in the conference final.

How many total regular season games will teams play?

Every club in each conference plays each other home and away once.

Is Pro/Rel in place with EPSL? If so, how many teams are promoted/relegated and who are the partner leagues?

Yes, but we are in the early stages of implementing and it is a work in progress. We require a max of 12 teams per conference, and not every conference has met that cap yet. Therefore, for the conferences that have not yet met that cap, there will not be a relegated team. The relegation will occur once a conference has 12 teams, so that a promoted team can replace a relegated team.

The Metropolitan Conference is so far the first conference with full implementation of Pro/Rel. In 2020-21, we relegated last place NY Athletic Club back into the Cosmopolitan Soccer League and promoted Manhattan Celtic. In 2021-22, we relegated New Amsterdam FC II, and promoted Hoboken FC 1912. In 2022/23, the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, Long Island Soccer Football League, and Garden State Soccer League are eligible as partner leagues to promote clubs into EPSL. We ask the champions of the lower divisions if they wish to be promoted. If they opt out, we ask the runners-up. If multiple partner leagues to a conference opt to promote their clubs, we will have playoffs for that promotion spot.

In the Delaware River Conference, we recently signed a feeder league agreement with CASA in Philadelphia. The arrangement there is not yet in full effect but will be once the EPSL Delaware River Conference reaches 12 clubs. CASA will promote clubs into EPSL without relegation for now, but once the Delaware River Conference is full with 12 teams, there will be a Pro/Rel playoff between the last place club in EPSL Delaware River and the champion of the CASA Select division.

The Mid-Atlantic Conference has a partnership with Maryland Majors, but we have not yet fully implemented Pro/Rel there. There are plans to get that going in the future, with hopefully some more feeder leagues in the mix. The same applies for the Northeast Conference.

Are there some star players to highlight or players to look out for this Spring?

Johnny DeSouza is certainly a star player for defending league champions NoVa FC. Lansdowne Yonkers FC has former EFL League Two star Shamir Mullings, League of Ireland Champion Daryl Kavanagh, Des Moines Menace and Welsh U-16 International Eddie Speed, and former Red Bulls II and New Mexico United star Andrew Tinari. NY Pancyprian Freedoms have goal scorer Joe Holland and former Cosmos star Charlie Ledula.

Are there any recent players that have signed pro contracts who previously played in EPSL?

Both Brandon and Tyler Clegg signed from NoVa FC to pro clubs, with Brandon going to Maryland Bobcats in NISA, and Tyler Clegg being drafted by Portland Timbers in MLS. Stephen Elias signed from Lansdowne Yonkers FC to Valley United FC in NISA before going to Michigan Stars. Jack Beer signed from Lansdowne Yonkers FC to NYCFC II. Edi Mujan went from Mass United Rush to Michigan Stars in NISA.

Are there any EPSL teams in the 2023 US Open Cup?

Lansdowne Yonkers FC are our lone representatives in the Open Cup in 2023, facing Hartford City FC in Round 1.

Any other relevant info fans should know?

We were proud to have reached over 150,000 fans last year via our robust amount of video highlights. It's very easy to follow the league via video. 68% of the Metropolitan Conference is livestreamed by either New Logical, Game In Frame, or Coach's Corner on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The Delaware River Conference hosts Game of the Week streams by Game In Frame. Also, there are plans to expand live video in the rest of the conferences in the next year.

For full standings and league info, check out the EPSL website at epslsoccer.com

- Tim Lutz