by Marissa Blackman
This might be the offseason, but that doesn't mean USL PRO has been uneventful.
All USL leagues , including PRO, recently had their big
annual meeting, and important decisions were made there. I’m going to explore
what all this means for Wilmington Hammerheads FC.
There are lots of new teams in the league, so USL PRO has
been divided into two conferences- east and west. The Hammerheads will be
competing in the Eastern conference along with FC Montreal, Toronto FC,
Rochester Rhinos, Harrisburg City Islanders, Richmond Kickers, Charleston
Battery, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Saint Louis FC, Louisville City FC, and
Charlotte Independence, and it’s a widely agreed upon rumor that the New York
Red Bulls of MLS will be starting a USL PRO team before the season starts.
Click here for more details on the conference divisions.
What does all of this mean for the Hammerheads?
1. Familiar Faces
Last season Toronto was Wilmington’s MLS
affiliate, so it’s quite possible that the Hammerheads could be competing
against some of last season’s loans.
2. Familiar Teams
Wilmington Hammerheads FC has been facing
longtime USL PRO sides such as Charleston and Richmond for years. Those veteran
clubs make of 5/11(12?) teams in the conference. Judging by last seasons stats,
the Hammerheads should pretty easily win against these teams. Wilmington beat
both Pittsburgh and Charleston twice and tied Harrisburg twice. Richmond is the
only one of these clubs that the Hammerheads ever lost to, and the other two
matches against Richmond were ties. Against Rochester, the Hammerheads won twice
and tied once.
3. Wild Cards
The other 5(6?) teams in the Eastern Conference
are completely new. Who knows what they are capable of?
4. Playoffs
The Hammerheads will only need to make at least 5th
place in the East by playoff time to compete. Next, Wilmington will compete
with ONLY eastern teams to decide which one plays in the championship match against
the western winner. In my opinion this makes it much easier to get into the
playoffs, and makes that final championship deciding match significantly less
predictable because the two teams playing in the final will be facing each
other for the first time.
Those were the reasonable facts, now here
are my irrational fan predictions: The new clubs in the conference will be no
threat at all. They will be nothing like Sacremento Republic FC, who won in it’s
first season, and they will struggle all year. The Hammerheads will dominate
the Eastern Conference table and win it all.
Richmond will probably be the biggest
threat to all of this, but, looking back on my Richmond post from last season, maybe not so much. If my opinions are correct, the Hammerheads improved every
time they played Richmond. Many of last season’s players(including Paul Nicholson, Sunny Jane, Will Heaney, Troy Cole, Cody Arnoux, Ross Tomaselli, Ashani Fairclough, Steven Miller, Brian Ackley, Matt Glaeser, Tom Parratt, Andrae Campbell, Marc Godelman, and Drew Ruggles) are remaining with the
Hammerheads, so it seems plausible that Wilmington will be able to beat Richmond
next year.
One thing is for sure… I wish it was Spring
of 2015 already!
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