Southern California Eagles

Southern California Eagles

Full name	Southern California Eagles
Nickname(s)	SoCal Eagles
Founded	1983; 41 years ago (1983)
Stadium	Al Barbour Field La Mirada, California
Capacity	1,150
Head Coach	Todd Elkins
League	USL League Two Women's Premier Soccer League
2023	4th, Southwest Division Playoffs: Conference Semifinals
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors

Southern California Eagles are an American soccer team based in La Mirada, California. Founded in 2001 as the Southern California Seahorses, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They also field a team in the Women's Premier Soccer League.^[1]

The team plays its home games in the stadium on the campus of Whittier College. The team's colors are navy blue, white and orange.

The Eagles are a division of Missionary Athletes International (MAI), an organization which undertakes sports ministry to share the message of Christianity through the environment of soccer. They are a sister organization of the Charlotte Eagles in USL League Two.

History

The Seahorses, which had previously been in existence as a youth soccer club since 1983, joined the PDL in 2001, and were successful immediately, finishing second to Orange County Blue Star in their debut season with a 13–6–1 record. 2002 continued the trend, when the Seahorses again finished second in the Southwest Division, this time behind Chico Rooks, with an 11–7–0 record. Their first trip to the playoffs was also a successful one, when they beat Spokane Shadow and Cascade Surge to advance to the national final four, where they were defeated in the semi-finals by Boulder Rapids Reserve.

The Seahorses missed the playoffs in 2003, finishing third behind divisional champions Fresno Fuego, and just missed out again in 2004, finishing third behind Orange County Blue Star, despite posting some impressive victories in the regular season, including 4–1 defeat of Nevada Wonders and a 5–1 demolition of San Diego Gauchos.

The developing rivalry between the Seahorses and Orange County Blue Star continued in 2005, when yet again the men from La Mirada finished a close second to their all-conquering Southland neighbors in the Southwest Division standings. The Seahorses began the season with a five-game winning streak that included a 3–0 trouncing of California Gold; however, they did not manage to defeat – or even score a goal on – their rivals in their three games, losing 4–0, 3–0 and 3–0 to the eventual divisional champs. Nevertheless, the Seahorses were clearly the next best thing in the southwest,^{[citation needed]} and enjoyed several impressive wins (including a trio of 3-0s over San Diego Gauchos, Nevada Wonders and Fresno Fuego) in the second half of the season. Their trip to the playoffs was a short one, however, as the Seahorses lost to Cascade Surge first time out. Striker Anthony Stovall registered an impressive 7 goals on the season, and Dylan Martinez led the team in assists.

2006 saw the Seahorses finally capture their first divisional title, besting Orange County Blue Star by seven points at season's end. The year was one of solid consistency, and included a hugely impressive 9-game winning streak which stretched from early June to the end of July, and included two 4–0 victories (over Los Angeles Storm and California Gold), and a hard-fought finale against the San Fernando Valley Quakes. However, for the second year in a row, the Seahorses' playoff excursion ended quickly with a 2–1 defeat to BYU Cougars. MLS-bound striker Josh Hansen scored an impressive 8 goals and 4 assists on the season, closely followed by Romanian import Cristian Rus with 6. Keeper Eric Reed enjoyed the best goalkeeping statistics in the PDL, with a goals-against average of 0.621 per game, and keeping 10 clean sheets in his 15 games.

However, much like their crosstown rivals Blue Star, everything went wrong for the Seahorses in 2007. With Eric Reed having gone to new USL-1 franchise California Victory, the Seahorses defence became incredibly leaky; the team suffered four defeats in their first five games – including a chaotic 4–3 loss to the San Fernando Valley Quakes – and although things began to sure up towards the second half of the season, they found themselves unable to actually WIN any games. Five ties in their last ten games put an end to their playoff hopes early, although the team did finish with a flourish with a resounding 4–0 thrashing of Bakersfield Brigade on the final day, and eventually finished 7th. Midfielder Conan Hawkins led the scoring stats, tallying 4 goals on the season, while Chris Leiva registered 6 assists.

The downturn in form continued in 2008 for the Seahorses, who began the season with a 3–1 loss to San Fernando Valley Quakes, and then won just one of their next eight games, a 1–0 road win over Lancaster Rattlers. To their credit, few of the Seahorses' losses were blowouts: 0–1 here, 1–2 there, but in each game their strikers never quite seemed to breach the opposition defenses, or show enough sharpness in front of goal. They enjoyed their revenge over Orange County Blue Star with a 1–0 win in June, making up for a 4–1 thrashing earlier in the season, and put an end to the San Jose Frogs' playoff chances with an impressive 3–1 home victory in mid-July, but finished the year with a 5–2 hammering at the hands of Fresno Fuego, and a disappointing bottom-of-the-table clash with Lancaster Rattlers on the final day of the season which ended in a 1–1 tie and managed to keep them out of the basement spot. The Seahorses ended their season in 9th place; Chris Leiva, Diego Mejía and Cristian Rus were the joint top scorers with three goals each, while Scott Lucky led the assist stats with 2 to his name.

The Seahorses entered their ninth season in the PDL looking to recapture the form of yesteryear, but it was not to be; despite welcoming ex-pros Josiah Snelgrove and Adam Frye back into the fold, and despite posting a 6–2 victory over Bakersfield Brigade in their second game of the season in which new signing Ryan Shaw netted twice, the Seahorses began to find that the story of their season would revolve around ties. The Seahorses drew eight of their sixteen regular-season games, and were made to rue their matches with Fresno Fuego and Ventura County Fusion in which they conceded a 90th-minute equalizing goals when they looked odds-on to win. Their last win of the season came at the beginning of July, a 2–1 away victory over the Lancaster Rattlers, and thereafter the men from La Mirada staggered to the finishing line, eventually finishing sixth in the division, eight points out of the playoffs, and missing the postseason for the third straight year. Ryan Shaw was the Seahorses' top scorer, with 6 goals.

On February 13, 2024, the team changed its name to the Southern California Eagles to match with other Missionary Athletes International soccer teams.^[2]

Colors and badge

On March 1, 2018, the unveiled a new crest, as a part of a partnership with Charlotte Eagles.^[3]

Players

Notable former players

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

Honors

• USL PDL Southwest Division Champions 2006
• USL PDL Western Conference Champions 2002

Head coaches

• Todd Elkins (2005–2013)
• Johnny Juarez-Jackman (2013–2015)
• Joe Lurker (2015–present)

Stadia

• Stadium at La Habra High School; La Habra, California (2003–2004)
• Al Barbour Field; La Mirada, California (2004–present)

Average attendance

• 2005: 300
• 2006: 279
• 2007: 263
• 2008: 328
• 2009: 277
• 2010: 233
• 2011: 150
• 2012: 223
• 2013: 200
• 2014: 198
• 2015: 176

References

External links

• Official Site
• Official PDL site
• Missionary Athletes International

• v
• t
• e

USL League Two

Eastern Conference

Northeast	AC Connecticut Albany Rush Black Rock FC Boston Bolts Boston City FC Pathfinder FC Seacoast United Phantoms Vermont Green FC Western Mass Pioneers
Mid Atlantic	Lehigh Valley United Ocean City Nor'easters Philadelphia Lone Star FC Reading United AC Real Central New Jersey West Chester United SC
Metropolitan	Cedar Stars Rush Hudson Valley Hammers Ironbound SC Long Island Rough Riders Manhattan SC Morris Elite SC FC Motown STA New Jersey Copa FC Staten Island Sporting Athletic Club Westchester Flames
Chesapeake	Charlotesville Blues Christos FC Lionsbridge FC Northern Virginia FC Patuxent Football Athletics Virginia Beach United FC Virginia Marauders FC
South Atlantic	Charlotte Eagles Charlotte Independence 2 North Carolina FC U23 North Carolina Fusion U23 Salem City FC South Carolina United Tobacco Road FC Wake FC West Virginia United

Central Conference

Great Lakes	AFC Ann Arbor Flint City Bucks Kalamazoo FC Lansing City Football Michiana Lions Midwest United FC Oakland County FC Union FC Macomb
Valley	Cleveland Force FC Dayton Dutch Lions FC Buffalo Fort Wayne FC Kings Hammer FC Toledo Villa FC
Heartland	Chicago City SC Chicago Dutch Lions Des Moines Menace Peoria City River City FC St. Charles FC Sueno FC FC Wichita
Deep North	Bavarian United SC Minneapolis City SC RKC Third Coast Rochester FC St. Croix Legends Thunder Bay Chill

Southern Conference

South Central	Asheville City SC Athens United Birmingham Legion 2 Dothan United East Atlanta Dutch Lions Southern Soccer Academy Kings Tennessee SC
Southeast	Brevard SC Brooke House FC Florida Elite Soccer Academy Inter Gainesville KF NONA FC Brave SC
South Florida	Miami AC Sarasota Paradise St. Petersburg FC Swan City SC Tampa Bay United Weston FC
Mid South	Blue Goose SC Hattiesburg FC Little Rock Rangers LA Krewe FC Mississippi Brilla FC
Lone Star	AC Houston Sur AHFC Royals Corpus Christi FC Hill Country Lobos Houston FC Twin City Toucans

Western Conference

Mountain	Albion SC Colorado CISA Flatirons Rush SC New Mexico United U-23 Salt City SC Utah United Utah Avalanche
Northwest	Ballard FC Capital FC Atletico Lane United FC Midlakes United FC Olympia Tacoma Stars United PDX West Seattle Junction FC
Nor Cal	Academica SC Almaden FC Davis Legacy SC Marin FC Legends Monterey Bay FC 2 Project 51O San Francisco City SC San Francisco Glens
Southwest	AMSG FC Arizona Arsenal SC Capo FC Cochella FC FC Tucson Redlands FC Southern California Eagles Ventura County Fusion

Seasons

as USISL Premier League	1995 1996
as PDSL	1997 1998
as PDL	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
as USL League Two	2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Miscellaneous

• Previous clubs
• United Soccer League
• USL Championship
• USL League One