The first season of the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) Central Conference began play last week when three matches were played in Texas.
Background
The UPSL is a United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) sanctioned National Men’s Amateur league. This emerging league was founded in Southern California in 2011 and, with over 175 clubs in multiple states, is the fastest growing adult amateur league in the country. The UPSL is unique among other high-level National leagues like the NPSL and PDL, as it plays both a Spring and Fall season and is incorporating a system of promotion-relegation within its more mature Conferences.
UPSL Central Conference
Now organized into ten conferences nationally, the UPSL began expanding into Texas in 2017. Ten teams begin play in the Central Conference Spring 2018 season-broken into North and South Divisions. Nine of these teams are in Texas and one in Oklahoma. According to Central Conference Commissioner Matt Kahla, the plan is to also have West and Eastern Divisions as soon as 2019. Currently an 11th Texas team, Southwest FC (El Paso), plays in the UPSL Southwest Conference with teams from Arizona and New Mexico. Southwest FC’s season began in late March and they are currently 2-2-0-6 points (tied for fourth place in the six team Conference). Eventually the plan is to divide the league into two levels to provide for promotion-relegation in the overall Conference.
2018 Spring Season Teams
North Division Clubs: (City) Stadium
Dallas Elite FC (Dallas) Prestonwood Christian Lions Stadium-Plano, TX
Inocentes FC (Ft. Worth) Polytechnic High School
Keene FC (Keene) Keene High School Stadium
OKC 1889 FC (Oklahoma City, OK) Norman North Soccer Field-Norman, OK
Texas Spurs (McKinney) Michael Johnson Performance
South Division Clubs; (City) Stadium
Atletico Katy FC (Katy) Delmar Stadium-Houston, TX
FC Knights (Killeen) Summit Soccer Complex-Harker Heights, TX
ISL USA FC (La Porte) USA International League Field-Houston, TX
Round Rock SC (Round Rock) Round Rock Multipurpose Complex
Samba FC (San Antonio) Wheatley Heights Sports Complex
2018 Spring Season Schedule
Each team will play an eight game Spring schedule-home and away against the other four teams in their respective conference between May 12 and July 14. Playoffs are planned but dates and formats are to be announced as the season progresses.
First week results: (Home team listed first-Winner in Bold)
North Division
Dallas Elite-3 Keene FC-0
South Division
ISL USA FC-2 Knights FC-3
Round Rock SC-2 Atletico Katy FC-3
Week 2 Schedule (Home team listed first)
North Division
OKC 1889 FC vs. Inocentes FC (Saturday, May 19)
Keene FC vs. Texas Spurs (Sunday, May 20)
Inocentes FC vs. Dallas Elite (Sunday, May 200
South Division
Round Rock SC vs. Knights FC (Saturday, May 19)
Samba FC SA vs. ISL USA FC (Sunday, May 20)
A link to the remaining schedules for both Divisions in the Central Conference can be found here:
http://www.upslsoccer.com/schedule
Media
UPSL has established a partnership with My Cujoo to access capabilities to Live Stream matches. Available matches can be found in the link below:
Club Profile-OKC 1889 FC
(Club provided information)
General description about the Club: We have a men’s first team and second team as well. We are excited to show the conference what we have in OKC
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Year Founded: 2017
Brief History: We are a semi-pro team that has been playing exhibitions for the past year. We are excited to be competing in the UPSL
Home Field/Stadium: Norman North High School (Natural Grass/118 x 76)
Owner and General Manager: Dustin Hooker
Head coach: Adam Kay
Adam is from Bristol, England, before moving to Oklahoma in 2010 to attend Southwestern Christian University and was awarded 3x All-Conference and 3x All-American honors. During his playing time in college he played for numerous PDL teams across the country, setting a record minutes played in his time at Vermont Voltage for regular season play in 2013.
Kay currently coaches at Oklahoma Celtic as a club coach. He is also the Assistant at Mid-America Christian University, helping the program set records in most wins in a season, the furthest the program has progressed in the conference tournament-most clean sheets and most goals scored in the first year being involved with the program. Kay holds a USSF B, as well as UEFA B which have been obtained within the last 2 years. Kay has also assisted at 2 separate High Schools since 2013 reaching the semi-finals of 6A and finals of 5A.
Assistant Coaches: Adam Butler, James Roberson, Mikey Thomas
Team Roster: We have announced players and that is available on the website:
How are players recruited/where do they come from? All players are living in Oklahoma and/or Oklahoma City area.
Players from club who have played professionally or starred in college: Hugo Rhoads and Adrian Able have both played in the NASL
Ticket prices and how to buy: $5.00 per game and you can purchase at the team website
Club colors (both home and away jerseys): Purple and White, Black and White, All White
Does your club plan to establish a Supporters Group?: OKC IMPETUS is our founding supporters group
MORE ON OKC 1889 FC
Meet OKC 1889 FC-John Lenard-Soc Takes-April 4, 2018
Texas Soccer Journal 