1997 PDSL season

The 1997 Premier Development Soccer League season was its 3rd. The season began in April 1997 and ended in August 1997.

Central Coast Roadrunners successfully defended the championship, defeating the Cocoa Expos 3-2. Spokane Shadow won the regular season title, winning 14 games to 2 losses.

Changes from 1996 Season

Name changes

• Miami Tango changed their name to Miami Breakers.
• Puget Sound Hammerheads merged with the D-3 Pro's Everett BigFoot to become Puget Sound BigFoot.
• Southern California Gunners changed their name to Southern California Chivas.

New teams

6 teams were added for the season.

Team	Area	Location	Previous affiliation
Alabama Saints	Birmingham area	Birmingham, AL	expansion
Cascade Surge	Willamette Valley Area	Salem, OR	from USISL Pro League
Cincinnati Riverhawks	Greater Cincinnati area	Cincinnati, OH	expansion
San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	Greater Los Angeles area	Glendale, CA	expansion
Southwest Florida Manatees	Southwest Florida area	Cape Coral, FL	expansion
Yakima Reds	Yakima area	Yakima, WA	from USISL Pro League

Teams Leaving

The Nashville Metros were promoted to the A League. The Arizona Sahuaros (formerly the Arizona Phoenix), Austin Lone Stars, Fort Lauderdale Strikers (formerly Florida Strikers), and San Francisco Bay Seals were promoted to the D-3 Pro League.

6 teams folded after the 1996 season:

• Birmingham Grasshoppers
• Fontana Falcons
• Oklahoma City Heat
• Orlando Lions
• Roanoke River Dawgs
• San Diego Top Guns

The Wichita Blue went on hiatus for this year, and the Willamette Valley Firebirds went on hiatus for the next two years.

Standings

Blue denotes team has won their division.
Green denotes team has won playoff spot.
Orange denotes team gets bye into semifinals as defending champion.

Central Conference

Central Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Lincoln Brigade*	16	12	4	2	0	34	23	+11	32
2	Omaha Flames	16	7	9	0	1	42	29	+13	21
3	Sioux City Breeze	16	8	8	0	0	26	38	-12	24
4	Des Moines Menace*	16	7	9	1	0	29	27	+2	19
5	Colorado Springs Stampede	16	6	10	0	1	23	33	-10	18
6	Twin Cities Tornado*	16	5	11	2	1	29	39	-10	11

* Lincoln and Twin Cities were both penalized 6 points. Des Moines was penalized 3 points

North Central Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Mid-Michigan Bucks	16	12	4	0	1	41	24	+17	36
2	Detroit Dynamite*	16	10	6	1	2	41	20	+21	28
3	Kalamazoo Kingdom*	16	10	6	2	1	32	25	+7	26
4	Grand Rapids Explosion*	16	8	8	1	1	35	27	+8	22
5	Michigan Madness*	16	1	15	1	0	11	66	-55	1

* Kalamazoo was penalized 6 points. Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Michigan were all penalized 3 points.

Eastern Conference

Mid-South Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Cincinnati Riverhawks	15	10	5	0	0	48	28	+20	30
2	Jackson Chargers*	16	10	6	1	0	50	25	+25	28
3	Lexington Bluegrass Bandits*	16	10	6	2	3	45	22	+23	26
4	Alabama Saints	16	5	11	0	1	31	34	-3	15
5	Chattanooga Express*	16	5	11	1	0	18	54	-36	13

* Lexington was penalized 6 points. Chattanooga and Jackson were both penalized 3 points.
NOTE: Game between Cincinnati and Tucson was unable to be rescheduled before season's end, games was cancelled because it had no impact on playoffs.

Southeast Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Cocoa Expos*	16	12	4	1	2	46	23	+23	34
2	South Florida Future*	16	11	5	1	0	42	22	+20	31
3	West Florida Fury*	16	10	6	2	1	32	23	+9	26
4	Miami Breakers	16	8	8	0	1	41	24	+17	24
5	Southwest Florida Manatees	16	0	16	0	0	9	74	-65	0

* West Florida was penalized 6 points. Cocoa and South Florida were both penalized 3 points.

Western Conference

Northwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Spokane Shadow	16	14	2	0	0	37	16	+21	42
2	Yakima Reds	16	7	9	0	1	31	31	0	21
3	Cascade Surge*	16	8	8	2	1	28	23	+5	22
4	Bellingham Orcas	16	6	10	0	1	26	40	-14	18
5	Puget Sound BigFoot*	16	5	11	1	0	27	39	-12	13

* Cascade and Puget Sound were both penalized 3 points.

Southwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	16	12	4	0	0	43	20	+23	36
2	Central Coast Roadrunners	16	11	5	1	2	34	17	+17	34
3	Tucson Amigos*	15	6	9	1	0	18	41	-23	16
4	Southern California Chivas*	16	4	12	1	0	16	32	-16	10

* Southern California and Tucson were both penalaized 3 points
NOTE: Game between Cincinnati and Tucson was unable to be rescheduled before season's end, games was cancelled because it had no impact on playoffs.

Playoffs

Format

Central Coast received a bye to the PDL Semifinals as the defending champion.
The top four teams from every division except the Southwest earn playoff spots. With Central Coast already receiving a bye, the top two teams from the Southwest Division will play each other, however if Central Coast is in the top two, then the third place team receives a playoff spot. The Division winners would then face each other in the Conference finals.

Divisional Brackets

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Central Finals

NC1

Mid-Michigan Bucks

1

NC4

Grand Rapids Explosion

0

NC1

Mid-Michigan Bucks (AET/PSO)

0 (1)

North Central Division

NC3

Kalamazoo Kingdom

0 (0)

NC2

Detroit Dynamite

0

NC3

Kalamazoo Kingdom (AET)

1

NC1

Mid-Michigan Bucks

3

C4

Des Moines Menace

0

C1

Lincoln Brigade

0

C4

Des Moines Menace

4

C4

Des Moines Menace

6

Central Division

C2

Omaha Flames

0

C2

Omaha Flames

5

C3

Sioux City Breeze

3

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Eastern Finals

SE1

Cocoa Expos

5

SE4

Miami Breakers

2

SE1

Cocoa Expos

3

Southeast Division

SE3

West Florida Fury

1

SE2

South Florida Future

0

SE3

West Florida Fury

4

SE1

Cocoa Expos

2

MS2

Jackson Chargers

1

MS1

Cincinnati Riverhawks

7

MS4

Alabama Saints

4

MS1

Cincinnati Riverhawks

0

Mid-South Division

MS2

Jackson Chargers

3

MS2

Jackson Chargers (AET)

1

MS3

Lexington Bluegrass Bandits

0

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

Western Finals

NW1

Spokane Shadow (AET/PSO)

4 (1)

NW4

Bellingham Orcas

4 (0)

NW1

Spokane Shadow

2

Northwest Division

NW2

Yakima Reds

0

NW2

Yakima Reds

1

NW3

Cascade Surge

0

NW1

Spokane Shadow

0

SW1

San Gabriel Valley Highlanders

1

SW1

San Gabriel Valley Highlanders

bye

SW1

San Gabriel Valley Highlanders

2

Southwest Division

SW2

Tucson Amigos

1

SW2

Tucson Amigos

bye

PDSL Finals Brackets

	PDSL Semifinals
	NC1	Mid-Michigan Bucks	0
	H	Central Coast Roadrunners	2			PDSL Finals
						H	Central Coast Roadrunners	2
	PDSL Semifinals				SE1	Cocoa Expos	1
	SW1	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	0 (0)
	SE1	Cocoa Expos (AET/PSO)	0 (1)			PDSL Third Place
						NC1	Mid-Michigan Bucks	2
						SW1	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	3