New men’s soccer club to be formed

11/13/2012

A new am­a­teur men's soc­cer team has been es­tab­lished by the Pace­set­ter Soc­cer Club and will be­gin play next sum­mer.

The new team will com­pete in the Su­per-20 League, which is an or­ga­ni­za­tion for elite play­ers ages 17 to 20. The Su­per-20s League is af­fil­i­ated with the United Soc­cer Leagues.

Play­ers hope to work their way up through what is called the Amer­i­can Soc­cer Pyr­a­mid. The top tier is Ma­jor League Soc­cer.

Jimmy Walker, who is the di­rec­tor of the Syl­va­nia-based Pace­set­ter Club, said the Su­per 20s team will be run through the club.

“It's a re­ally good level of play,” Walker said.

The team will be called the Pace­set­ter Su­per 20s. The sea­son runs through June and July. Chi­cago, Co­lum­bus, and Cin­cin­nati also have teams in the league.

Walker, who will be a co-owner, said he hopes the team will play its home games at St. John's Je­suit High School. The team will be coached by for­mer Northview coach Ryan Creech. Walker said the ros­ter will con­sist pri­mar­ily of top lo­cal col­lege play­ers.

Walker said the ul­ti­mate goal is to es­tab­lish a team that would com­pete in the Pre­mier Devel­op­ment League.

The PDL, which is one step higher than the Su­per-20s, pro­vides elite col­le­giate play­ers the op­por­tu­nity to ex­pe­ri­ence a higher level of com­pe­ti­tion while main­tain­ing their el­i­gi­bil­ity.

Walker said the club is in the pro­cess of rais­ing funds to ob­tain a PDL fran­chise.