Baton Rouge Capitals
 |
|
| Full name | Baton Rouge Capitals |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Capitals, The Caps, The Cult |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Dissolved | 2011 |
| Stadium |
Christian Life Academy Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Owner |
 John Hamide
|
| Head Coach |
 Stuart Hayers
|
| League | USL Premier Development League |
| 2011 | 3rd, Mid South Playoffs: DNQ |
| Website | Club home page |
Baton Rouge Capitals was an American soccer team based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Founded in 2007, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid South Division of the Southern Conference.
The team played its home games in the stadium at the Christian Life Academy. The team's colors are red, white and black.
Baton Rouge entered its first ever soccer franchise into the PDL in 2007, under the leadership of Bo Cassidy, a veteran coach and collegiate player at UMass Amherst. The Capitals started their inaugural season with three straight defeats, failing to pick up their first win until the fourth game of the season, 1–0 over fellow new boys Mississippi Brilla. The rest of the season followed a similar pattern: a sequence of defeats, followed by an impressive victory which seemed to signal a turn in fortune, only for the defeats to continue. Their highlight was a superb see-saw 3–2 win over the experience El Paso Patriots that featured a brace by striker Tony Judice, but their inconsistency eventually left them in sixth place in standings, 15 points behind divisional champions Laredo Heat. Judice was the Capitals' top scorer, notching 5 goals; Irish international striker Joseph Lapira also made a valuable contribution, with 3 goals and 1 assist to his name.
The Capitals changed coaches during the offseason, bringing in local Brazilian-born coach Helio d'Anna, but his introduction failed to have the desired effect, as the team again suffered from raging inconsistency, especially away from home. They actually won their opening game of the 2008 campaign, 2–0 over the El Paso Patriots off a pair of goals by Tony Judice, but immediately slumped to three successive defeats in their next three games. They won the first half of the Louisiana derby, 4–1 at home over the New Orleans Shell Shockers, and enjoyed a brief run of form at the beginning of June, knocking off Houston Leones and Mississippi Brilla in quick succession, but rapidly reverted to their old ways; they didn't win another game that month, suffering a trio of 3-goal defeats, and were eliminated from playoff contention with several games remaining in the season. They did manage to do the double over their state rivals, beating New Orleans 3–2 in the return fixture in the Big Easy with two goals from Leonardo dos Barros, but eventually finished the year a distant fifth in the Mid South, 9 points adrift of divisional champions Austin Aztex U23. Leonardo dos Barros was Baton Rouge's top scorer, with 7 goals, while Ricardo Santos contributed three assists.
...
Wikipedia