Pioneers Kick Off USL Season Against Kickers

Western Mass. Opens Year With Back-to-Back Matches

January 15, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. � The Western Mass. Pioneers will travel to the 2006 United Soccer League champion Richmond Kickers on April 19 as part of a four-game blockbuster set to kick off the USL Second Division 2008 season.

Nine of the league�s 10 teams will open their campaigns on opening weekend, with the Pioneers-Kickers duel one of the four games scheduled on Opening Night, April 19. Western Mass will then visit the expansion Real Maryland for the club's debut match the next night. All games will kick off at 7:00 p.m. ET.

In other opening night matches, the Cleveland City Stars play host to the returning Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Crystal Palace Baltimore plays host to the defending USL Second Division champion Harrisburg City Islanders and the Bermuda Hogges visit the Charlotte Eagles.

The Wilmington Hammerheads will be the final team to open the 2008 season the following weekend when they travel to Bermuda Saturday, April 26.

A rematch of last year's Second Division Championship between the Kickers and City Islanders will have to wait until Friday, June 6 in Harrisburg.

USL-2 will play a 20-game season for the sixth straight campaign with each team playing all of the other teams home and away with the remaining fixtures being made up versus geographically proximate opponents.

The top six clubs will advance to the postseason which will consist of teams seeded three through six playing a single-game elimination round midweek. The winners of the First Round will advance to the Semifinal Round the following weekend versus the top two clubs, who received byes. The teams will not be re-seeded after the first round, pitting the regular season champion against the winner of the 3-v-6 match-up and the number two seed against the 4-v-5 winner.

The Semifinal winners advance to the USL-2 Championship match on Saturday, August 23. The 2008 season will mark the first time since 2004 that more than four clubs will advance to the playoffs.

For the full 2008 USL Second Division schedule, click here.

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