Cascade Surge
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| Full name | Cascade Surge |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Surge |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Dissolved | 2009 |
| Stadium | McCulloch Stadium |
| Capacity | 2,500 |
| Chairman | Dave Irby |
| Head Coach | Mike Alfers |
| League | USL Premier Development League |
| 2009 | 4th, Northwest did not qualify for playoffs |
Cascade Surge was an American soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1995, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, when the franchise folded and the team left the league.
The team played its home games at McCulloch Stadium on the campus of Willamette University, where they played since 2004. The team's colors were blue and white.
The team from Salem first joined the old USISL Pro League in 1995 as Oregon Surge one of 20 expansion franchises; placed in the Northwest Division, the team was competitive from the get-go, finishing second in the table behind Hawaii Tsunami with a 14-6 records (ties were settled on penalties). The playoffs also proved to be a successful venture: a 3-2 win over Everett BigFoot led the team to the divisional finals, where they again were defeated by Hawaii Tsunami, but the season indicated a positive future.
The Pro League was realigned in 1996, and the newly-titled Cascade Surge found life more difficult in their sophomore year, finishing a distant sixth in the table behind Everett BigFoot and the San Fernando Valley Golden Eagles with a 7-9 record. Things improved in 1997 as the Pro League renamed itself to the Premier Development Soccer League, and Cascade were more competitive, finishing third in the Northwest behind Spokane Shadow and Yakima Reds, but losing in the playoffs at the first attempt 1-0 to Yakima.
The team continued to experience inconsistency in 1998, as they finished their year fourth behind Spokane Shadow and out of the playoffs, and 1999 was the worst season yet, as Cascade finished rock bottom of the Northwest Division with just 2 wins all year, 17 points adrift of the team above them (Yakima Reds) and an astonishing 54 points behind divisional champions Willamette Valley Firebirds. Things didn't get much better with the turn of the millennium, although Surge did avoid a second consecutive wooden spoon by finishing one place ahead of Willamette Valley with a 5-11-2 record.
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