When the third-tier professional soccer league known as NISA began to create formal relationships with regional amateur clubs, it got soccer folks in this this country excited. But the one regional league relationship that piqued the most interest was when NISA made the connection with the Eastern Premier Soccer League. The EPSL was already an exiting new project, bringing the Cosmopolitan Soccer League and Maryland Majors together for form a super-regional league and to put the call out to other regional leagues to join them. One league, the Garden State Soccer League (GSSL), has since answered the call.

Oh, and there will be real, actual promotion/relegation between the EPSL and the regional leagues. Yeah, I know – exciting, right?

The EPSL has been broken up into two conferences, the Metropolitan and the Mid-Atlantic. Since Dan Creel has already given you the lowdown on the Mid-Atlantic. This piece will take a look at the Metropolitan Conference.

So who are the twelve clubs that will be competing in the initial Metropolitan Conference? The short answer is: CSL and Friends. Nine of the ten clubs from Cosmo League’s top division ‘moved up’ to become a part of the conference. And those teams are:

Doxa SC

FC Westchester

KidSuper Samba AC

Landsdowne Yonkers FC

NY Athletic Club

NY Greek Americans

NY Pancyprian Freedoms

New Amsterdam FC II

Zum Schneider FC 03

There is a lot of soccer history here. Between NY Greek Americans and NY Pancyprian Freedoms, you have seven Open Cup winners (pre-1995). Some of these clubs were founded long before there was an MLS (or even an NASL) in existence. New Amsterdam FC II was formerly known as Sporting Astoria but recently made a change in name and is now affiliated with New Amsterdam FC in NISA.

Joining these clubs, we have:

Clifton Elite FC

Philadelphia Lone Star FC

SEFT FC

Clifton Elite comes as the lone representative of the Garden State Soccer League. Philadelphia Lone Star FC is a well-know and respected amateur club that can field a team in seemingly every amateur league in the East. And then there’s SEFT FC, a youth soccer organization out of northern New Jersey who is fielding a mean’s team for the first time.

In the fall season, each club will play every other club once between now and December. The famous Metropolitan Oval in Brooklyn will be one of the sites used for league games. The plan is to have a representative from the GSSL and CSL face off at the end of the spring, with the winner getting promoted to the EPSL.

Here is the opening schedule of games this weekend:

Saturday, October 3rd

Landsdowne Yonkers FC v NY Athletic Club, 7PM ET

Clifton Elite FC v Doxa SC, 7:15PM ET

Sunday, October 4th

KidSuper Samba AC v NY Pancyprian Freedoms, 2:30PM ET

Zum Schneider FC 03 v NY Greek Americans, 8PM ET

FC Westchester v SEFT FC, 9PM ET

Tuesday, October 6th

New Amsterdam FC II v Philadelphia Lone Star FC, 9PM ET

- John Howard-Fusco