2014 North American Soccer League season

North American Soccer League
Season	2014
Champions	San Antonio Scorpions
North American Supporters' Trophy	Minnesota United FC
Matches played	135
Goals scored	374 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Christian Ramirez (20)
Biggest home win	SAN 7 vs TB 0; (10/11)
Biggest away win	NYC 3 @ TB 0; (5/17); NYC 3 @ FTL 0; (5/31)
Highest scoring	CAR 5 vs NYC 4; (9/20)
Longest winning run	MIN (4 games); (4/12 – 5/3); (9/13-10/4)
Longest unbeaten run	SAN (9 games); (5/10 – 7/26)
Longest winless run	IND (9 games); (4/12 – 6/7)
Longest losing run	ATL (6 games); (9/6 – 10/4)
Highest attendance	34,047; OTT @ MIN; (8/2)
Lowest attendance	2,158; CAR @ OTT; (4/26)
Total attendance	742,695; (Spring & Fall)
Average attendance	5,501
	← 2013 2015 →

The 2014 North American Soccer League season was the 47th season of Division II soccer in the United States and the fourth season of the revived North American Soccer League. It was contested by ten teams including two from Canada. Joining the NASL in the Spring of 2014 were two new franchises, Indy Eleven and Ottawa Fury FC; originally Virginia Cavalry FC were to begin play this season but now plan to join in the 2016 season. The defending Soccer Bowl champions are the New York Cosmos, while the Carolina Railhawks are the defending North American Supporters' Trophy winners. A split season format was used again for the 2014 season.

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit producer	Shirt sponsor
Atlanta Silverbacks	Jason Smith	Mike Randolph	Nike	People HRO
Carolina RailHawks	Colin Clarke	Kupono Low	Adidas	Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC
FC Edmonton	Colin Miller	Albert Watson	Adidas	The Fath Group
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Günter Kronsteiner	Iván Guerrero	Acerbis
Indy Eleven	Juergen Sommer	Kristian Nicht	Diadora	Honda
Minnesota United FC	Manny Lagos	Aaron Pitchkolan	Admiral	Atomic Data / Mall of America
New York Cosmos	Giovanni Savarese	Carlos Mendes	Nike	Emirates
Ottawa Fury FC	Marc Dos Santos	Richie Ryan	Admiral	Heart and Crown
San Antonio Scorpions	Alen Marcina	Adrian Cann	Nike	Toyota
Tampa Bay Rowdies	Ricky Hill	Frankie Sanfilippo	Admiral	Hard Rock

Player transfers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Atlanta Silverbacks	Brian Haynes	Contract not renewed	9 December 2013	Pre-Season	Eric Wynalda	7 January 2014
Atlanta Silverbacks	Eric Wynalda	Voluntary move to team technical director	17 July 2014	8th	Jason Smith	18 July 2014
Atlanta Silverbacks	Jason Smith	Fired	5 October 2014	10th	Alejandro Pombo – Interim Head Coach	5 October 2014
San Antonio Scorpions	Alen Marcina	End of interim period	22 November 2013	Pre-Season	Alen Marcina	22 November 2013
Indy Eleven	Expansion team				Juergen Sommer	11 June 2013
Ottawa Fury FC	Expansion team				Marc Dos Santos	23 May 2013

Spring season

The Spring season lasted for 9 games beginning on April 12 and ending on June 8. The schedule featured a single round robin format with each team playing every other team in the league a single time. Half the teams will host 5 home games and play 4 road games whereas the other half of the teams will play 4 home games and 5 road games. The winner of the Spring season earns one of four berths in the playoffs, now known as The Championship.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Minnesota United (S)	9	6	2	1	16	9	+7	20	Playoffs
2	New York Cosmos	9	6	1	2	14	3	+11	19
3	San Antonio Scorpions	9	5	2	2	13	9	+4	17
4	Carolina RailHawks	9	4	2	3	11	15	−4	14
5	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	9	4	1	4	18	18	0	13
6	Ottawa Fury	9	3	1	5	14	13	+1	10
7	Tampa Bay Rowdies	9	2	4	3	11	16	−5	10
8	Atlanta Silverbacks	9	3	1	5	12	20	−8	10
9	FC Edmonton	9	2	2	5	11	11	0	8
10	Indy Eleven	9	0	4	5	14	20	−6	4

Source: NASL Standings
(S) Spring season champion

Results

Home \ Away	ATL	CAR	FCE	FTL	IND	MNU	NYC	OTT	SAS	TBR
Atlanta Silverbacks					3–3	1–2		2–1	1–2
Carolina RailHawks	2–0			4–1			1–0			2–0
Edmonton	1–2	6–1		1–3			0–1
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	4–0				3–2		0–3	2–0
Indy Eleven		1–1	1–2					2–4	1–2	1–1
Minnesota United		0–0	1–0	3–1	3–2
New York Cosmos	4–0				1–1	1–0		1–0	0–1
Ottawa Fury		4–0	1–0			1–2			2–3	1–1
San Antonio Scorpions		3–0	0–0	2–2		0–2				0–1
Tampa Bay Rowdies	1–3		1–1	3–2		3–3	0–3

Updated to match(es) played on June 8, 2014. Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Fall season

The Fall season will begin following a break for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on July 19 and ending on November 2, with each team playing the others twice, once home and once away. The winner of the Fall season will earn automatic berth in The Championship.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Antonio Scorpions (F)	18	11	2	5	30	15	+15	35	Playoffs
2	Minnesota United	18	10	5	3	31	19	+12	35
3	FC Edmonton	18	8	5	5	23	18	+5	29
4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	18	7	6	5	20	21	−1	27
5	Carolina RailHawks	18	7	3	8	27	28	−1	24
6	New York Cosmos	18	5	8	5	23	24	−1	23
7	Indy Eleven	18	6	5	7	21	26	−5	23
8	Tampa Bay Rowdies	18	5	5	8	25	34	−9	20
9	Ottawa Fury	18	4	5	9	20	25	−5	17
10	Atlanta Silverbacks	18	3	4	11	20	30	−10	13

Source: NASL Standings
(F) Fall season champion

Results

Home \ Away	ATL	CAR	FCE	FTL	IND	MNU	NYC	OTT	SAS	TBR
Atlanta Silverbacks		0–2	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–3	0–1	1–1
Carolina RailHawks	0–2		2–3	1–1	1–2	2–2	5–4	3–0	3–1	3–4
Edmonton	2–1	3–0		2–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–0
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	1–1	1–0	1–0		2–1	0–3	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0
Indy Eleven	2–4	0–1	1–1	0–0		2–0	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–2
Minnesota United	1–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	5–1		0–0	2–1	0–1	1–1
New York Cosmos	3–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1		2–1	1–3	2–2
Ottawa Fury	2–0	2–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	2–3	0–1		1–1	0–2
San Antonio Scorpions	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1		7–0
Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–3	2–2	2–3	3–1	0–2	0–2

Updated to match(es) played on November 2, 2014. Source: [1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

The playoffs were contested by the winners of the spring and fall seasons hosting the next best two teams in the full year regular season table. The half-season champions earned the top two seeds, with the higher seed going to the team with the better full-season record. The two next-best teams earned the third and fourth seeds. The semifinals took place on November 8 and 9, with the #1 seed hosting the #4 seed and #2 hosting #3. The winners met in Soccer Bowl 2014 on November 15, hosted by the team with the higher seed.

Combined standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Minnesota United (X)	27	16	7	4	47	28	+19	55	Championship qualifiers
2	San Antonio Scorpions (C)	27	16	4	7	43	24	+19	52
3	New York Cosmos	27	11	9	7	37	27	+10	42
4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	27	11	7	9	38	39	−1	40
5	Carolina RailHawks	27	11	5	11	38	43	−5	38
6	FC Edmonton	27	10	7	10	34	29	+5	37
7	Tampa Bay Rowdies	27	7	9	11	36	50	−14	30
8	Ottawa Fury	27	7	6	14	34	38	−4	27
9	Indy Eleven	27	6	9	12	35	46	−11	27
10	Atlanta Silverbacks	27	6	5	16	32	50	−18	23

Source:
(C) Champions; (X) North American Supporters' Trophy winner

The Championship

Participants

Minnesota United (Spring season champion)
San Antonio Scorpions (Fall season champion)
New York Cosmos
Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Semifinals

November 8, 2014

7:00 pm EST

Minnesota United	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Ibarra 34' Mendes 50'	Report Report	Kronsteiner 71' Anderson 83' Nuñez 87' 90+1' Marcelin 105' Brito 118'
Penalties
Venegas Calvano Ibarra Vicentini Campos Pitchkolan	4 – 5	Hassan Anderson Picault Núñez Brito Pecka

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 6,113

Referee: Fotis Bazakos

November 8, 2014

8:30 pm EST

San Antonio Scorpions	2–1 (a.e.t.)	New York Cosmos
Castillo 19' 55' DeRoux 83' Restrepo 110'	Report Report	Stokkelien 17'

Toyota Field, San Antonio, Texas

Attendance: 6,548

Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Soccer Bowl 2014

November 15, 2014

8:30 pm EST

San Antonio Scorpions	2–1	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Castillo 70' Forbes 74' Gentile 84' Hassli 88'	Report Report	Nuñez 62' (pen.) Ramírez 79'

Toyota Field, San Antonio, Texas

Attendance: 7,847

Referee: Ted Unkel

Attendance

Season	Spring Season Weekly Averages
Season	ATL	CAR	EDM	FTL	IND	MN	NY	OTT	SA	TB	League avg.
Week 1	-	-	-	3,105	11,048	-	7,906	-	7,381	7,003	7,289
Week 2	5,000	4,007	4,399	-	10,421	-	-	3,457	-	-	5,457
Week 3	-	-	-	3,515	-	5,287	4,130	2,158	-	4,670	3,952
Week 4	3,922	4,066	3,276	-	-	4,913	-	-	5,595	-	4,354
Week 5	-	-	-	3,109	10,285	-	3,091	2,164	5,834	-	4,897
Week 6	-	5,527	-	-	10,285	5,325	-	-	7,087	4,855	6,616
Week 7	-	-	2,961	-	-	6,784	3581	2,432	-	4,331	4,018
Week 8	5,000	7,856	-	5,572	10,285	-	-	3,207	-	-	6,384
Week 9	5,000	-	3,641	-	-	-	6,495	-	6,484	4,132	5,150
Spring Total	18,922	21,456	14,277	15,310	52,324	22,309	21,622	13,418	32,381	24,991	237,010
Spring Avg	4,730	5,364	3,569	3,825	10,465	5,157	4,323	2,684	6,476	4,998	5,267
Bold denotes league's highest attendance for the week

Season	Fall Season Weekly Averages
Season	ATL	CAR	EDM	FTL	IND	MN	NY	OTT	SA	TB	League avg.
Week 1	-	3,080	3,609	3,092	-	-	3,806	-	-	3,896	3,497
Week 2	3,011	-	-	-	10,555	7,287	-	14,593	6,958	-	8,481
Week 3	4,810	-	3,152	3,257	-	-	-	-	7,884	4,868	4,711
Week 4	-	4,294	2,849	2,648	10,285	34,047	4,649	-	-	-	10,896
Week 5	3,842	-	-	-	10,285	5,112	4,524	4,814	-	-	5,652
Week 6	-	3,140	-	-	-	5,420	-	4,277	7,847	4,273	4,209
Week 7	-	4,666	-	2,409	-	-	-	-	-	4,212	5,454
Week 8	-	-	3,111	-	10,285	-	3,928	4,206	5,734	-	4,755
Week 9	5,000	3,106	2,796	3,006	10,659	7,024	-	5,269	-	-	5,303
Week 10	-	-	-	-	-	6,202	3,626	-	5,594	4,340	5,761
Week 11	3,071	3,193	-	-	-	-	4,502	-	-	-	4,896
Week 12	3,062	5,593	4,392	3,112	-	-	-	5,094	8,313	4,313	5,568
Week 13	-	-	3,830	3,052	10,285	5,744	-	3,105	-	3,865	4,734
Week 14	-	-	-	-	-	-	6,225	-	5,963	-	5,009
Week 15	2,905	-	2,903	-	10,285	-	4,411	-	5,683	2,565	5,090
Week 16	3,061	4,179	-	5,756	10,982	5,817	-	3,935	-	-	5,989
Week 17	5,000	-	-	5,756	-	6,454	8,565	4,172	-	-	5,989
Week 18	-	6,460	3,035	5,505	-	-	-	-	8,205	6,377	5,914
Fall Total	33,762	37,621	29,677	37,593	94,188	83,107	44,236	44,651	62,181	38,669	505,685
Fall Avg	3,751	4,180	3,297	4,177	10,465	9,234	4,915	4,961	6,909	4,300	5,619
Bold denotes league's highest attendance for the week

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Nation	Club	Goals
1	Christian Ramirez	USA	Minnesota United	20
2	Fafà Picault	USA	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	12
3	Jaime Chavez	USA	Atlanta Silverbacks	9
	Georgi Hristov	BUL	Tampa Bay Rowdies	9
	Daniel Mendes	BRA	Minnesota United	9
	Zack Schilawski	USA	Carolina RailHawks	9
7	Miguel Ibarra	USA	Minnesota United	8
7	Kléberson	BRA	Indy Eleven	8
9	Rafael Castillo	COL	San Antonio Scorpions	7
	Lance Laing	JAM	Edmonton	7
	Oliver	BRA	Ottawa Fury	7
	Junior Sandoval	HON	Atlanta Silverbacks	7
	Mads Stokkelien	NOR	New York Cosmos	7

Source:

Top assists

Rank	Player	Nation	Club	Assists
1	Billy Forbes	TCA	San Antonio Scorpions	7
2	Lance Laing	JAM	FC Edmonton	6
3	Shawn Chin	USA	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	5
	Miguel Ibarra	USA	Minnesota United	5
	Christian Ramirez	USA	Minnesota United	5
	Kevin Venegas	USA	Minnesota United	5
7	14 players			4

Source:

Individual awards

Monthly awards

Month	NASL Player of the Month
Month	Player	Nation	Club	Link
April	Zack Schilawski	USA	Carolina RailHawks	3G
May/June	Christian Ramirez	USA	Minnesota United FC	3G 3A
July	Rafael Castillo	COL	San Antonio Scorpions	3G
August	Christian Ramirez	USA	Minnesota United FC	6G 1A
September	Miguel Ibarra	USA	Minnesota United FC	4G 1A
October/November	Christian Ramirez	USA	Minnesota United FC	4G

League awards

Golden Ball (MVP): Miguel Ibarra (Minnesota United FC)
Golden Boot: Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United FC)
Golden Glove: John Smits (FC Edmonton)
Coach of the Year: Manny Lagos (Minnesota United FC)
Goal of the Year: Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United FC)
Young (U24) Player of the Year: Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United FC)
Humanitarian of the Year: Chris Nurse (Fort Lauderdale Strikers)
Fair Play Award: Tampa Bay Rowdies

NASL Best XI
Position	Players	Team
Goalkeeper	Jimmy Maurer	New York Cosmos
Defense	Tiago Calvano	Minnesota United FC
Defense	Justin Davis	Minnesota United FC
Defense	Darnell King	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Defense	Carlos Mendes	New York Cosmos
Midfield	Miguel Ibarra	Minnesota United FC
Midfield	Rafael Castillo	San Antonio Scorpions
Midfield	Lance Laing	FC Edmonton
Midfield	Walter Restrepo	San Antonio Scorpions
Forward	Fafà Picault	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Forward	Christian Ramirez	Minnesota United FC