Dan Creel’s EPSL notes

Two of the area’s top men’s amateur clubs took part in a friendly this past week. On Saturday, September 26, Philadelphia Lone Star FC traveled to Cedar Lake Park in Columbia, Maryland to take on the Maryland Bobcats FC.

The Stars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal by Dwight Allison and doubled it in the 66th minute on a quick strike by Anthony Allison. Philadelphia made it 3-0 on a long-range goal by Nyakeh Kamara in the 83rd. The Bobcats pulled one back in the 88th minute on a penalty kick and the match ended in a 3-1 victory for Lone Star.

For the Stars, the match was a tune-up before their first team plays its inaugural EPSL Metropolitan Conference match against New Amsterdam FC II on Tuesday, October 6. And, for the Bobcats, it was the club’s first game in its Fall Friendly series and gave the chance for many of its younger reserve players to get time on the pitch. As part of that series, the Bobcats will play Chattanooga FC at Finley Stadium on October 24th.

While the Stars will play as the only non-New York metro-based team in the EPSL’s Metropolitan Conference, the Bobcats will play in the league’s Mid-Atlantic Conference. The Metro Conference will begin to play this weekend but the clubs in the Mid-Atlantic will need to wait a bit longer.

Due in large part to return to play protocols, the Mid-Atlantic Conference will have a different format in the fall than the Metro Conference. The Mid-Atlantic will likely play in a bubble tournament over the course of two to three weekends in late October or November. Negotiations are underway as to the stadium, but there is a good likelihood that all of the matches would be at the Evergreen Sports Complex in Leesburg, Virginia. Evergreen is the same field that hosted the matches for the Maryland clubs during Mid-Atlantic group play in NISA’s Independent Cup.

The six clubs slated to play in the fall tournament are the Maryland Bobcats, AC Commonwealth, Northern Virginia FC, Starliners FC, Steel Pulse FC, and VA United. As the Bobcats’ first team prepares for fully professional play in NISA in the fall of 2021, the club will field Maryland Bobcats FC II in the EPSL during the 2020-21 season.

Located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, AC Commonwealth is a recently organized club and is also fielding two teams in the UPSL this fall. On the other side, Starliners FC was originally organized in Washington, D.C. in 1983. Currently based in Takoma Park, Maryland, the Starliners have been competing in the Washington Premier League for the past number of seasons.

VA United is based in Woodbridge, Virginia, and has competed in the Woodbridge Soccer League. The club put together a run during local qualification to make it into the first round proper of the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.

Northern Virginia FC also from Woodbridge has a relatively long pedigree. The club began in 1998 playing in the USISL’s D-3 Pro League as the Northern Virginia Royals. The team self-relegated to the USL’s PDL in 2006 where they stayed through 2014. The organization returned to the PDL in 2016 with Evergreen FC and launched NOVA FC itself in the UPSL in 2018.

The sixth club, Baltimore’s Steel Pulse FC, is the returning MMSL 1st Division champions. The club will be fielding its first team in the EPSL while still retaining a presence in the MMSL.