Yakima Reds

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Yakima Reds
2010
8th, Northwest
Playoffs: DNQ

Yakima Reds was an American

American Soccer Pyramid
, in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The franchise folded at the end of the 2010 season and left the league thereafter.

The team played its home games at Marquette Stadium. The team's colors were red and white.

History

The Yakima Reds joined the USISL Pro League in 1995, and were placed in the Northwest Division, but finished their first year of national competition with just 4 wins, a distant fifth behind divisional champions

Washington state
.

1998 was the best season yet in Yakima's history. For the second year in a row they finished the regular season second to

San Gabriel Valley Highlanders
in the regional final, the performance was indicative that Yakima were beginning to grow into a regional powerhouse.

Or so they thought. 1999 was disappointing for Yakima as they suffered a turnaround in form and finished a lowly 5th in the table behind champions

Mid Michigan Bucks, and they even lost the consolation game 5–2 to Westchester Flames, but to finish fourth in the country was a huge achievement. To add to the honors, Nate Nelson
was named PDL Defender of the Year, and Hector & Teresa Vega received the Organization of the Year honor.

After the exploits of the previous year, 2001 was disappointing for the Reds, as they finished 5th of six in the Northwest Division behind champions

Calgary Storm, and with just 5 wins all season. The 2001 season was the catalyst for a general decline in Yakima's form. 2002 was worse as they finished rock bottom of their division, again with just 5 wins all season. Yakima were better in 2003, but still missed out on the playoffs, despite enjoying several impressive wins. A 5–1 thumping of Calgary Storm Prospects
was the highlight of the year, and they eventually finished the season in third place.

2004 was difficult for Yakima. Four straight defeats at the beginning of the season set the level for the rest of the season; somewhat shockingly, Yakima's home form was quite atrocious, and they failed to pick up a win at

Abbotsford Rangers
, but it was too little too late. The year ended with Yakima fourth of four in the Northwest.

The 2005 season was not much better for Yakima, although at least the win tally increased to four: all their wins came at home, twice against

Abbotsford Rangers and twice against Spokane Shadow. To be fair to the Reds, most of their games were tight 1–0, 2–1 or 3–2 scorelines, so in many respects Yakima could consider themselves unlucky to not have achieved more, but their inability to finish out games from leading positions was their downfall, and they eventually finished third in the table, out of playoffs once more. Jared Auckland and Santa Maria Rivera-Valdovinos
were the team's top scorers, with 4 each.

There was more of the same in 2006, although with the expansion of the division Yakima did enjoy a few more wins. However, inconsistency remained the Reds main problem, and their inability to string together a run of winning results was frustrating. A pair of 4–0 wins – one over

Abbotsford Rangers – were the highlights of the year, but in the end their lack of confidence and their spotty form left them third in the table behind Abbotsford, and just out of the playoffs again. However, their two star goal scorers, Cameron Mertens and Christopher Sardon
, did net an impressive 16 goals between them, a testament to Yakima's improved fortunes in front of goal.

However, Yakima's fortunes took a turn for the worse in 2007. The team won just three games and scored just 21 goals all season, and eventually finished a full 29 points adrift of divisional champions

Tacoma Tide. Only Puerto Rican striker José García
offered any striking potency, leading the goal scorers list with 3 for the season.

2008 saw great excitement with the return to Yakima of one of its most famous sons,

Tacoma Tide in a winner-take-all final game. Unfortunately for the Reds, Tacoma took the home field advantage all the way to a 6–2 victory, which left Yakima a close third in the Northwest table, just missing out on a playoff spot. Junior Garcia was the top scorer in the entire PDL, with 15 goals, and was subsequently named the national MVP
, the first time that honor had ever been given to a Yakima player.

On 25 September 2008, the Reds' management announced that the club was folding and withdrawing from the USL, citing the economic climate and the financial difficulties being suffered by the ownership group,

Vancouver Whitecaps Residency, and 6–0 to Abbotsford, who were clearly keen to make up for their earlier humiliation. They finished the year second from bottom in the Northwest, saved from the wooden spoon only by the Spokane Spiders. Vinicius Oliveira
was clearly the Reds' standout player, hitting 10 goals and providing 3 assists in his 14 appearances for the team,

Players

Notable former players

See also: All-time Yakima Reds roster

This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.

Year-by-year

Year Division League Regular Season Playoffs Open Cup
1995 3 USISL Pro League 5th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
1996 3 USISL Pro League 3rd, Western Did not qualify Did not qualify
1997 4 USISL PDSL 2nd, Northwest Division Finals Did not qualify
1998 4 USISL PDSL 2nd, Northwest Regional Finals Did not qualify
1999 4 USL PDL 5th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2000 4 USL PDL 1st, Northwest National Semifinals (4th Place) Did not qualify
2001 4 USL PDL 5th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2002 4 USL PDL 5th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2003 4 USL PDL 3rd, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2004 4 USL PDL 4th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2005 4 USL PDL 3rd, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2006 4 USL PDL 3rd, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2007 4 USL PDL 6th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2008 4 USL PDL 3rd, Northwest Did not qualify 1st Round
2009 4 USL PDL 9th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify
2010 4 USL PDL 8th, Northwest Did not qualify Did not qualify

Honors

  • USL PDL Western Conference Champions 2000
  • USL PDL Northwest Division Champions 2000

Head coaches

Stadia

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.

  • 1997: 704
  • 1998: 381
  • 1999: 365
  • 2000: 542
  • 2001: 394
  • 2002: 304
  • 2003: 337
  • 2004: 647
  • 2005: 368
  • 2006: 369
  • 2007: 362
  • 2008: 393
  • 2009: 253
  • 2010: 255

References

  1. ^ "GOALTacoma Blog: After 14 seasons Yakima Reds fold". 26 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Yakima Reds :: 2006 Season". Archived from the original on 2006-04-24. Retrieved 2006-03-22.

External links

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