Ventura County Fusion is an American soccer team based in Ventura, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference.
The team plays its home games at Bulldog Stadium on the campus of Buena High School, where they have played since 2007. The team's colors are blue, orange and white.
Fusion are the current USL Premier Development League champions, having defeated Chicago Fire Premier 2-1 in the 2009 championship game.
The team has a sister organization, the Ventura County Fusion Women, who play in the women's USL W-League, and also fields a team in the USL’s Super-20 League, a league for players 17 to 20 years of age run under the United Soccer Leagues umbrella.
History
The Fusion entered the league in 2007 as the first ever soccer franchise from the Ventura County area of Southern California. They played their first competitive game on April 28, 2007, beating fellow expansion franchise Lancaster Rattlers 2-1, and setting the wheels in motion for what turned out to be a promising first season. Four wins in their next five games - including impressive victories over traditional regional powerhouses Fresno Fuego and Orange County Blue Star - propelled the Fusion to the top of the table by mid-season. However, a spate of injuries began to take its toll on their roster, and by the middle of July the Fusion were stuttering towards the finish line, still in with a shout of making the playoffs, but being hampered by damaging defeats to Fresno and the Southern California Seahorses. By the time the final set of games came round, Fusion needed three points from their final two games to leapfrog the San Fernando Valley Quakes into the playoffs, but two consecutive ties - 3-3 with Southern California Seahorses and a hugely disappointing 0-0 with Los Angeles Storm - meant that they finished their debut season fourth in the table. English striker Mark Draycott was the team's leading marksman, notching an impressive ten goals, while Eric Avila and Chance Myers led the assist stats.
In the offseason, Fusion played against English Premier League side Everton in a closed friendly at the Home Depot Center on July 24, 2007. The match was organised by head coach Smith, who "wanted it to be a reward for their great play during their inaugural season". Later, in early 2008, Fusion hosted games against Hammarby of the Swedish Allsvenskan, and Real Salt Lake and Columbus Crew of MLS. Fusion enjoyed a 1-0 victory over a Columbus side that included MLS veterans such as Frankie Hejduk, despite playing without all their college players, due to NCAA regulations.
Ventura started their second competitive season without the services of Chance Myers and Eric Avila, both of whom had been taken in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, and Mark Draycott, who had returned to England to play for Swindon Supermarine. Despite this, anticipation was high that success would be swift, but they actually started the season sluggishly, losing two of their first four games, and not picking up a victory until their 3-0 triumph over Fresno Fuego in late May. This signalled an about-turn in form; Fusion enjoyed four wins in June, including an impressive 4-1 thrashing of Fresno Fuego away from home. Two more impressive victories - 2-0 over Southern California Seahorses and 4-0 over Lancaster Rattlers - kept Fusion's playoff run on course, but a shock 1-0 defeat to struggling Orange County Blue Star at home meant that they had to beat eventual divisional champions San Fernando Valley Quakes in their next game, or their season would be over. The Quakes won 3-2 in a bad-tempered game at Pierce College, and Ventura were left rueing another year of missed opportunities. They eventually finished the season in 3rd, just two points out of the playoffs; Hagop Chirishian was the team's top scorer, with 4 goals, while former Chivas USA midfielder Rodrigo Lopez led with 3 assists.
On July 21, 2009 the Fusion played Burnley F.C. of the Barclays English Premier League,however the superior class showed through and despite a spirited showing the Fusion went down 5-0.
Players
Current roster
as at July 20, 2009
| No. |
|
Position |
Player |
| 1 |
 |
GK |
Eric Franco |
| 2 |
|
MF |
Brennan Tennelle (bio) |
| 3 |
 |
DF |
Danny Barrera (bio) |
| 5 |
 |
FW |
Hagop Avesyan |
| 6 |
 |
MF |
Manny Guzman (bio) |
| 7 |
|
MF |
Gurgen Adzemian |
| 8 |
|
MF |
Andrew Villalobos |
| 9 |
 |
DF |
Panagiotis Savidis |
| 10 |
|
FW |
Hagop Chirishian |
| 11 |
|
MF |
Alfonso Motagalvan (bio) |
| 12 |
 |
DF |
Henry Brauner |
| 13 |
|
GK |
Bryan Hill |
| 14 |
 |
MF |
Sam Nicholson |
| 15 |
|
MF |
Bedel Guei |
|
|
|
Notable former players
Year-by-year
| Year |
Division |
League |
Regular Season |
Playoffs |
Open Cup |
| 2007 |
4 |
USL PDL |
4th, Southwest |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2008 |
4 |
USL PDL |
3rd, Southwest |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2009 |
4 |
USL PDL |
3rd, Southwest |
Champions |
Did not qualify |
| 2010 |
4 |
USL PDL |
|
|
|
Honors
- USL PDL Champions 2009
- USL PDL Western Conference Champion 2009
Head coaches
Stadia
Fusion's current stadium, Bulldog Stadium
Average attendance
| Year |
Attendance |
Notes |
| 2007 |
1,176 |
5th in PDL |
| 2008 |
1,217 |
|
| All Time |
1,197 |
|
External links
References
