2017 North American Soccer League season explained

Competition:	North American Soccer League
Season:	2017
Winners:	San Francisco Deltas
Continentalcup1:	Spring Champions
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:	Miami FC
Continentalcup2:	Fall Champions
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:	Miami FC
Matches:	128
Total Goals:	338
League Topscorer:	Stefano Pinho (17)
Biggest Home Win:	MIA 7–0 SFD (July 8)
Biggest Away Win:	NYC 0–3 MIA (April 1)
Highest Scoring:	NYC 5–2 PRF (October 28)
Longest Wins:	4 games Miami FC (April 29 – May 20) (June 3 - June 24) San Francisco Deltas (June 10 – July 2)
Longest Unbeaten:	10 games Miami FC (April 22 – June 24)
Longest Losses:	5 games Puerto Rico FC (April 22 – May 20)
Highest Attendance:	9,515 MIA 0–2 NYC (April 8)
Lowest Attendance:	780 JAX 1–2 PRF (August 16)
Attendance:	550,871 (123 of 128 games reported)
Average Attendance:	4,479
Prevseason:	2016
Nextseason:
Updated:	November 9, 2017

The 2017 North American Soccer League season was the 50th season of Division II soccer in the United States and Canada, and the 7th season of the modern North American Soccer League. The defending champions are the New York Cosmos who defeated Indy Eleven in Soccer Bowl 2016.

Eight clubs played in the NASL after provisional sanctioning by the United States Soccer Federation. Expansion side, San Francisco Deltas joined the league. After the 2016 season, Minnesota United left the league to join Major League Soccer, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ottawa Fury left the league to join the United Soccer League. The Carolina RailHawks FC rebranded as North Carolina FC. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Rayo OKC did not return to NASL for the 2017 season.

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Stadiums and locations

See main article: List of NASL stadiums.

Teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Manager	Captain	Kit Sponsor
	Edmonton	Clarke Stadium	5,000	Colin Miller	Albert Watson	The Fath Group
Indy Eleven	Indianapolis	Michael A. Carroll Stadium	10,524	Tim Hankinson	Colin Falvey	Honda
Jacksonville Armada	Jacksonville	Hodges Stadium	12,000	Mark Lowry	Aaron Pitchkolan	RP Funding
Miami FC	Miami	Riccardo Silva Stadium	20,000	Alessandro Nesta	Jonathan Borrajo
	New York City	MCU Park	7,000	Giovanni Savarese	Carlos Mendes	Fly Emirates
	Raleigh	WakeMed Soccer Park	10,000	Colin Clarke	Nazmi Albadawi	Circle K
Puerto Rico FC	Bayamón	Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium	22,000	Marco Vélez	Cristiano	Claro
San Francisco Deltas	San Francisco	Kezar Stadium	10,000	Marc Dos Santos	Nana Attakora

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Puerto Rico FC	Adrian Whitbread	Fired	May 19, 2017	8th Place	Marco Vélez (interim)	May 19, 2017^[1]
Puerto Rico FC	Marco Vélez (interim)	End of Interim Period	August 2, 2017	8th Place	Marco Vélez	August 2, 2017^[2]

Spring season

Results

Abbreviation and Color Key: FC Edmonton – FCE Indy Eleven – IND Jacksonville Armada – JAX Miami FC – MIA New York Cosmos – NYC North Carolina FC – NCA Puerto Rico FC – PRF San Francisco Deltas – SFD HomeAwayWinLossDraw <																	-- * ppd -->
Club	Match
Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	scoreLoss: style="background-color:#FFDFDF;"	scoreDraw: style="background-color:#FFFFDD;"	score-->
FC Edmonton	JAX	JAX	NCA	PRF	MIA	IND	SFD	IND	PRF	NYC	MIA	SFD	SFD	JAX	NCA	NYC
FC Edmonton	0–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–3	4–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–1
Indy Eleven	SFD	PRF	PRF	SFD	JAX	FCE	MIA	MIA	FCE	SFD	JAX	NCA	NCA	NYC	NYC	JAX
Indy Eleven	1–1	3–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–3	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–4	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–0
Jacksonville Armada	FCE	FCE	SFD	NYC	IND	NYC	NCA	SFD	NCA	MIA	IND	MIA	FCE	PRF	PRF	IND
Jacksonville Armada	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–3	3–0	2–1	0–1	4–1	0–4	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–2
Miami FC	NCA	NYC	NYC	NCA	FCE	PRF	IND	IND	PRF	JAX	FCE	JAX	NYC	NCA	SFD	SFD
Miami FC	1–1	3–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	4–0	2–1	0–1	7–0	3–1
New York Cosmos	PRF	MIA	MIA	JAX	SFD	JAX	PRF	SFD	NCA	FCE	NCA	PRF	MIA	IND	IND	FCE
New York Cosmos	0–0	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–3	0–0	1–0	2–4	2–2	4–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–0
North Carolina FC	MIA	SFD	FCE	MIA	PRF	SFD	JAX	PRF	JAX	NYC	NYC	IND	IND	MIA	FCE	PRF
North Carolina FC	1–1	1–3	3–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–1
Puerto Rico FC	NYC	IND	IND	FCE	NCA	MIA	NYC	NCA	MIA	FCE	SFD	NYC	SFD	JAX	JAX	NCA
Puerto Rico FC	0–0	3–3	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	3–4	1–2	1–1	3–0	1–3	2–4	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–2
San Francisco Deltas	IND	NCA	JAX	IND	NYC	NCA	FCE	JAX	NYC	IND	PRF	FCE	FCE	PRF	MIA	MIA
San Francisco Deltas	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–3	0–0	2–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–7	1–3
-- ppd - Match postponed and rescheduled date if known -->

^[3] ^[4]

Fall season

Results

Abbreviation and Color Key: FC Edmonton – FCE Indy Eleven – IND Jacksonville Armada – JAX Miami FC – MIA New York Cosmos – NYC North Carolina FC – NCA Puerto Rico FC – PRF San Francisco Deltas – SFD HomeAwayNeutralWinLossDraw <																	-- Postponed-->
Club	Match
Club	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	scoreLoss: bgcolor=#FFDFDF	scoreDraw: bgcolor=#FFFFDD	score-->
FC Edmonton	IND	IND	NYC	PRF	SFD	NCA	NCA	IND	SFD	SFD	JAX	NYC	JAX	MIA	PRF	MIA
FC Edmonton	1–2	3-1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	2-1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	0–3	2-0	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–0	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–2
Indy Eleven	FCE	FCE	MIA	NYC	JAX	SFD	NCA	FCE	JAX	NCA	PRF	NYC	SFD	MIA	PRF	NCA
Indy Eleven	2–1	1–3	1-3	3–3	2-3	0–2	1-0	0–2	0–0	0–5	2–1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	2–2	1-2	0–3	1-2	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	2–2
Jacksonville Armada	SFD	PRF	NCA	PRF	MIA	IND	NYC	NYC	MIA	IND	MIA	FCE	NCA	FCE	NYC	SFD
Jacksonville Armada	1–1	0-1	2–2	1-2	0-1	3-2	2-0	3–3	0-3	0–0	0-1	1-0	1–1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	4–4	2-0
Miami FC	NYC	NCA	IND	NCA	JAX	PRF	PRF	NYC	JAX	JAX	SFD	SFD	IND	SFD	FCE	FCE
Miami FC	1–3	2-3	3-1	1-0	1-0	2-0	1-0	3–3	3-0	1-0	1–1	0–3	3-0	2–2	2-0	2-1
New York Cosmos	MIA	SFD	FCE	IND	NCA	JAX	MIA	JAX	SFD	NCA	PRF	IND	FCE	PRF	JAX	PRF
New York Cosmos	3–1	1-2	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	3–3	2–2	0–2	3–3	3–3	2–2	0-2	1-0	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	2–2	0–0	4–1	4–4	5–2
North Carolina FC	PRF	MIA	JAX	MIA	SFD	NYC	FCE	FCE	IND	PRF	NYC	IND	PRF	JAX	SFD	IND
North Carolina FC	1–1	3-2	2–2	0-1	1–1	2–2	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	3-0	0-1	0–0	2-0	5-0	1-0	1–1	1–1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	2–2
Puerto Rico FC	NCA	JAX	SFD	JAX	FCE	MIA	MIA	NCA	NYC	IND	NCA	SFD	NYC	IND	FCE	NYC
Puerto Rico FC	1–1	1-0	0–0	2-1	bgcolor=#FFFFDD	1–1	0–2	0-1	0–0	0-1	1–2	0-1	0-3	1-4	2-1	2-0	2-5
San Francisco Deltas	JAX	NYC	PRF	NCA	FCE	IND	NYC	FCE	FCE	MIA	MIA	IND	PRF	MIA	NCA	JAX
San Francisco Deltas	1–1	2-1	0–0	1–1	1–2	2-0	2–2	2-1	1-0	1–1	3-0	2-1	3-0	2–2	1–1	0-2
-- ppd - Match postponed and rescheduled date if known -->

^[5] ^[6]

Playoffs

The Championship

Participants

Miami FC (Spring and Fall season champion)
San Francisco Deltas
North Carolina FC
New York Cosmos

Semifinals

----

Soccer Bowl 2017

See main article: Soccer Bowl 2017.

Attendance

width=160	Club	width=45		width=45		width=45	width=45	width=45
Indy Eleven	16	9,072	7,124		%
Miami FC	16	9,515	1,529		%
New York Cosmos	17	6,734	2,240		%
North Carolina FC	16	7,344	3,388		%
FC Edmonton	16	4,096	2,231		%
Puerto Rico FC	11*	5,692	2,345		%
Jacksonville Armada	16	7,611	780		%
San Francisco Deltas	15†	4,755	1,441		N/A
Total	123	9,515	780		%

Five home games moved to other venues due to Hurricane Maria.

^† One result missing. That game was rescheduled at an alternate venue. There was no admission charged and no attendance figure given.
Source: NASL & kenn.com

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Nation	Club	Goals
1	Stefano Pinho	Brazil	Miami FC	17
2	Vincenzo Rennella	France	Miami FC	11
2	Éamon Zayed		Indy Eleven	11
4	Jaime Chavez	United States	Miami FC	10
4	Emmanuel Ledesma	Argentina	New York Cosmos	10
6	Jack Blake		Jacksonville Armada	9
6	Tom Heinemann	United States	San Francisco Deltas	9
8	Lance Laing	Jamaica	North Carolina FC	8
	Dylan Mares	United States	Miami FC
	Zach Steinberger	United States	Jacksonville Armada

Source:^[7]

Top assists

Rank	Player	Nation	Club	Assists
1	Jaime Chavez	United States	Miami FC	9
2	Andrés Flores	El Salvador	New York Cosmos	8
3	Emmanuel Ledesma	Argentina	New York Cosmos	6
3	Vincenzo Rennella	France	Miami FC	6
5	Justin Braun	United States	Indy Eleven	5
	Marco Franco	United States	Indy Eleven
	Ayoze	Spain	New York Cosmos
	Giuseppe Gentile	United States	Puerto Rico FC
	Dylan Mares	United States	Miami FC
	Ariel Martínez	Cuba	Miami FC
	Blake Smith	United States	Miami FC
	Ben Speas	United States	Indy Eleven

Source:^[7]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Nation	Club	Clean sheets
1	Mario Daniel Vega	Argentina	Miami FC	15
2	Romuald Peiser	France	San Francisco Deltas	12
3	Caleb Patterson-Sewell	United States	Jacksonville Armada	10
4	Jon Busch	United States	Indy Eleven	6
	Jimmy Maurer	United States	New York Cosmos
	Brian Sylvestre	United States	North Carolina FC
7	Trevor Spangenberg	United States	Puerto Rico FC	5
8	Brian Holt	United States	New York Cosmos	2
	Tyson Farago	Canada	FC Edmonton
	Austin Pack	United States	Puerto Rico FC

Source:^[7]

Hat-tricks

Club	Against	Result	Date
Miami FC	San Francisco Deltas	7–0	July 8
Miami FC	New York Cosmos	3–3	September 6
New York Cosmos	Puerto Rico FC	5–2	October 28

Awards

Weekly awards

Week	NASL Player of the Week		NASL Play of the Week
Week	Player	Club	Player	Club
Week 1	Kyle Bekker	San Francisco Deltas	Romuald Peiser	San Francisco Deltas
Week 2	Justin Braun	Indy Eleven	Ben Speas	Indy Eleven
Week 3	Tom Heinemann	San Francisco Deltas	Pablo Dyego	San Francisco Deltas
Week 4	Matthew Fondy	North Carolina FC	Lance Laing	North Carolina FC
Week 5	Brian Sylvestre	North Carolina FC	J. C. Banks	Jacksonville Armada
Week 6	Kwadwo Poku	Miami FC	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos
Week 7	Cristian Portilla	San Francisco Deltas	Zach Steinberger	Jacksonville Armada
Week 8	Lance Laing	North Carolina FC	Giuseppe Gentile	Puerto Rico FC
Week 9	Zach Steinberger	Jacksonville Armada	Billy Schuler	North Carolina FC
Week 10	Zach Steinberger	Jacksonville Armada	Tiyi Shipalane	North Carolina FC
Week 11	Giuseppe Gentile	Puerto Rico FC	Cristian Portilla	San Francisco Deltas
Week 12	Kyle Bekker	San Francisco Deltas	Billy Schuler	North Carolina FC
Week 13	Vincenzo Rennella	Miami FC	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos
Week 14	Jon Busch	Indy Eleven	Nathan Ingham	FC Edmonton
Week 15	Tom Heinemann	San Francisco Deltas	Billy Schuler	North Carolina FC
Week 16	Stefano Pinho	Miami FC	Ariel Martínez	Miami FC
Week 17	Nemanja Vuković	Indy Eleven	Craig Henderson	Indy Eleven
Week 18	Eric Calvillo	New York Cosmos	Kobi Moyal	New York Cosmos
Week 19	Abdoulaye Diakite	FC Edmonton	Nemanja Vuković	Indy Eleven
Week 20	Stefano Pinho	Miami FC	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos
Week 21	Gerardo Torrado	Indy Eleven	Tony Taylor	Jacksonville Armada
Week 22	Jack Blake	Jacksonville Armada	Tomi Ameobi	FC Edmonton
Week 23	Pablo Dyego	San Francisco Deltas	Jaime Chavez	Miami FC
Week 24	Jaime Chavez	Miami FC	Nazmi Albadawi	North Carolina FC
Week 25	Ciarán Kilduff	Jacksonville Armada	Éamon Zayed	Indy Eleven
Week 26	Devon Sandoval	San Francisco Deltas	Dustin Corea	FC Edmonton
Week 27	Renan Gorne	North Carolina FC	Nazmi Albadawi	North Carolina FC
Week 28	Éamon Zayed	Indy Eleven	Don Smart	Indy Eleven
Week 29	Bryan Burke	San Francisco Deltas	Stefano Pinho	Miami FC
Week 30	Jack Blake	Jacksonville Armada	Eugene Starikov	New York Cosmos
Week 31	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos

Monthly awards

Month	NASL Player of the Month		NASL Play of the Month
Month	Player	Club	Player	Club
April	Justin Braun	Indy Eleven	Ben Speas	Indy Eleven
May	Zach Steinberger	Jacksonville Armada	Giuseppe Gentile	Puerto Rico FC
June	Vincenzo Rennella	Miami FC	Cristian Portilla	San Francisco Deltas
July	Eric Calvillo	New York Cosmos	Ariel Martínez	Miami FC
August	Jack Blake	Jacksonville Armada	Nemanja Vuković	Indy Eleven
September	Jaime Chavez	Miami FC	Éamon Zayed	Indy Eleven
October	Emmanuel Ledesma	New York Cosmos	Nazmi Albadawi	North Carolina FC

League awards

Golden Ball (MVP): Stefano Pinho (Miami FC) ^[8]
Golden Boot: Stefano Pinho (Miami FC) ^[9]
Golden Glove: Mario Daniel Vega (Miami FC) ^[10]
Coach of the Year: Marc Dos Santos (San Francisco Deltas) ^[11]
Goal of the Year: Zach Steinberger (Jacksonville Armada) ^[12]
Young (U23) Player of the Year: Jack Blake (Jacksonville Armada) ^[13]
Humanitarian of the Year: Austin da Luz (North Carolina FC) ^[14]
Fair Play Award: North Carolina FC^[15]

NASL Best XI^[16]
Position	Player	Team
Goalkeeper		Miami FC
Defense		San Francisco Deltas
Defense		Miami FC
Defense		Jacksonville Armada
Defense		North Carolina FC
Midfield		New York Cosmos
Midfield		North Carolina FC
Midfield		Miami FC
Midfield		Miami FC
Forward		Miami FC
Forward		Miami FC

Notes and References

Web site: Puerto Rico Parts Ways With Coach Adrian Whitbread Technical Director Neil Sillett. nasl.com. May 19, 2017. May 21, 2017.
Web site: Marco Vélez Named Puerto Rico FC Head Coach for the Fall Season. nasl.com. August 2, 2017. August 2, 2017.
Web site: North American Soccer League Releases 2017 Schedule. NASL.com. February 6, 2017. May 29, 2017.
Web site: 2017 NASL Results . NASL.com . July 15, 2017.
Web site: North American Soccer League Releases 2017 Schedule. NASL.com. February 6, 2017. May 29, 2017.
Web site: 2017 NASL Results . NASL.com . October 29, 2017.
Web site: 2017 NASL statistics . October 29, 2017.
Web site: Miami FC Forward Stefano Pinho Wins NASL Golden Ball Award. November 10, 2017. November 10, 2017.
Web site: Miami FC's Stefano Pinho Wins NASL Golden Boot. North American Soccer League. November 7, 2017. November 7, 2017.
Web site: Miami FC's Daniel Vega Earns NASL Golden Glove Award. North American Soccer League. November 6, 2017. November 6, 2017.
Web site: San Francisco's Marc Dos Santos Named NASL Coach of the Year. North American Soccer League. November 9, 2017. November 9, 2017.
Web site: Stoppage-Time Volley by Jacksonville Armada FC Midfielder Zach Steinberger Takes Home NASL Goal of the Year Honors. North American Soccer League. November 10, 2017. November 10, 2017.
Web site: Jacksonville Midfielder Jack Blake Named NASL Young Player of the Year. North American Soccer League. November 8, 2017. November 8, 2017.
Web site: Austin da Luz Named 2017 NASL Humanitarian of the Year. North American Soccer League. November 8, 2017. November 8, 2017.
Web site: North Carolina FC Wins 2017 Fair Play Award. North American Soccer League. November 7, 2017. November 7, 2017.
Web site: North American Soccer League Announces 2017 NASL Best XI. North American Soccer League. November 9, 2017. November 9, 2017.