2001 PDL season

The 2001 USL Premier Development League season was the 7th PDL season. The season began in April 2001 and ended in August 2001.

Westchester Flames finished the season as national champions, beating Calgary Storm 3-1 in the PDL Championship game. Calgary Storm finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 18 out of their 20 games, suffering no losses, and finishing with a +38 goal difference.

Changes from 2000 Season

Name changes

The Colorado Comets changed their name to the Denver Cougars.
The Colorado Springs Stampede changed their name to the Colorado Springs Ascent
The Dayton Gems changed their name to the Dayton Gemini.
The Miami Tango changed their name to the Miami Strike Force.
The Texas Rattlers (formerly of the USISL D-3 Pro League) changed their name to the Texas Spurs.
The Twin Cities Tornado changed their name to the Twin Cities Phoenix.

New Teams

11 teams were added for the season, including 8 expansion teams:

Team Name	Metro Area	Location	Previous Affiliation
Calgary Storm	Calgary area	Calgary, AB	expansion
Cape Cod Crusaders	Cape Cod area	Hyannis, MA	from USISL D-3 Pro League
Chesapeake Dragons	Baltimore-Washington area	Germantown, MD	expansion
Chicago Eagles Select	Chicago area	Chicago, IL	expansion
Chicago Fire Reserves	Chicago area	Chicago, IL	expansion
Jersey Falcons	North Jersey area	Jersey City, NJ	expansion
Okanagan Predators	Okanagan Valley area	Kelowna, BC	expansion
Orange County Blue Star	Orange County area	Irvine, CA	from A-League
Southern California Seahorses	Los Angeles Metro area	La Mirada, CA	expansion
Texas Spurs	Dallas-Fort Worth area	Bedford, TX	from USISL D-3 Pro League
West Dallas Kings	Dallas-Fort Worth area	Dallas, TX	expansion

Went on hiatus

The Wisconsin Rebels went on hiatus for the season, and would return in 2002.

Folded

11 teams folded before the season:

Standings

Central Conference

Great Lakes Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Chicago Fire Reserves	20	15	4	1	49	18	+31	11	72
2	West Michigan Edge	20	13	7	0	50	42	+8	10	62
3	Mid-Michigan Bucks	20	10	9	1	43	46	-3	7	48
4	Indiana Invaders *	19	9	9	1	37	41	-5	9	46
5	Kalamazoo Kingdom	20	9	10	1	43	39	+4	6	43
6	Dayton Gemini *	19	5	14	0	24	48	-24	3	23

* Dayton and Indiana had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Heartland Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Sioux Falls Spitfire	20	17	2	1	54	19	+35	9	78
2	Des Moines Menace	20	11	7	2	38	23	+15	6	52
3	Chicago Eagles Select	20	8	10	2	33	33	0	4	38
4	Thunder Bay Chill	20	6	13	1	26	48	-22	3	28
5	Twin Cities Phoenix	20	3	17	0	34	61	-27	3	15

Mid-South Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Texas Spurs	20	16	3	1	68	22	+44	12	77
2	Lafayette Lightning	20	13	5	2	50	49	+1	11	65
3	Louisiana Outlaws	20	7	12	1	40	56	-16	7	36
4	West Dallas Kings	20	6	14	0	33	49	-16	4	28

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Westchester Flames	20	13	4	3	48	25	+23	10	65
2	Brooklyn Knights *	19	12	6	1	48	27	+21	8	57
3	Vermont Voltage	20	10	7	3	51	25	+26	8	51
4	New York Freedom *	19	10	7	2	41	33	+8	8	50
5	North Jersey Imperials	20	10	7	3	42	40	+2	7	50
6	Cape Cod Crusaders	20	9	8	3	39	36	+3	5	44
7	Chesapeake Dragons *	18	4	12	2	30	45	-15	4	22
8	Jersey Falcons	20	1	19	0	19	89	-70	2	6

* Both Brooklyn and New York had games against Chesapeake postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Games in question were cancelled since they had no bearing on playoffs.

Southeast Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Cocoa Expos	20	14	5	1	55	37	+18	9	66
2	Miami Strike Force	20	13	7	0	46	38	+8	8	60
3	Bradenton Academics *	19	9	9	1	40	34	+6	6	43
4	Central Florida Kraze	20	8	11	1	37	36	+1	4	37
5	Tampa Bay Hawks	20	6	12	2	39	41	-2	6	32
6	Palm Beach Pumas *	19	6	12	1	30	58	-28	4	29

* Bradenton and Palm Beach had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Western Conference

Rocky Mountain Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Denver Cougars	20	15	4	1	63	28	+35	11	72
2	Boulder Nova *	19	11	8	0	46	35	+11	10	54
3	Wichita Jets *	19	7	12	0	29	52	-23	5	33
4	Colorado Springs Ascent *	19	4	14	1	32	63	-31	6	23
5	Kansas City Brass *	17	2	15	0	27	53	-26	4	12

* Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Wichita all had games with Kansas City postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Games in question were cancelled since they had no bearing on playoffs.

Northwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Calgary Storm	20	18	2	0	47	9	+38	8	80
2	Seattle Sounders Select *	19	14	5	0	42	23	+19	7	63
3	Spokane Shadow	20	12	8	0	42	31	+11	6	54
4	Cascade Surge	20	7	13	0	27	42	-15	3	31
5	Yakima Reds *	19	5	13	1	20	44	-24	1	22
6	Okanagan Predators	20	2	17	1	18	47	-29	1	10

* Seattle and Yakima had a game postponed and could not be rescheduled by season's end. Game in question was cancelled since it had no bearing on playoffs.

Southwest Division

Place	Team	P	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Bonus	Points
1	Orange County Blue Star	20	14	6	0	51	34	+17	10	66
2	Southern California Seahorses	20	13	6	1	56	30	+26	9	62
3	Central Coast Roadrunners	20	12	8	0	53	35	+18	8	56
4	San Fernando Valley Heroes	20	7	11	2	38	43	-5	5	35
5	San Gabriel Valley Highlanders	20	1	17	2	12	83	-71	1	7