San Jose Frogs
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| Full name | San Jose Frogs Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Frogs |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Dissolved | 2008 |
| Stadium | James Lick Memorial Stadium |
| Chairman | Hartmut Esslinger |
| Manager | Aaron Castro |
| League | USL Premier Development League |
| 2008 | 5th, Southwest Division |
San Jose Frogs was an American soccer team based in San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 2005, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when the franchise folded and the team left the league.
The team played its home games in PAL Stadium in San Jose in 2006 and 2007, and at James Lick Memorial Stadium on the campus of James Lick High School in 2008. The team's colors were red and black.
The club's nickname, the Frogs, came from the club's owner, German industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger, whose company Frog Design Inc. was responsible for the first Apple Macintosh computer in 1981, amongst other things.
The Frogs began life in 2005 as an announced expansion franchise in the National Premier Soccer League, but they failed to take to the field in their original season. They finally made their debut in 2006 and impressed immediately, finishing their freshman season with a 12–4–4 record and second in the table behind eventual national champions Sacramento Knights. The Frogs played in PAL Stadium in San Jose in 2006 and 2007, with good support from local soccer fans who were left without a team when the San Jose Earthquakes, a Major League Soccer team, relocated to Houston and became the Houston Dynamo.
In the 2006–07 offseason, seeking a greater challenge, the team made the previously unprecedented jump from the NPSL to the PDL. Right out of the gate, the Frogs were as impressive in the PDL as they were in the NPSL, winning five of their first six games, including a pair of 2–1 victories against traditional divisional powerhouses Orange County Blue Star and Southern California Seahorses. The consistent run of form continued throughout the season, and despite a couple of defeats to Bakersfield Brigade and Ventura County Fusion, remained one of the four teams in contention for a playoff spot as the season wound down. A 3–2 loss to Fresno Fuego at the beginning of July put a spoke in the wheel, and despite ending their campaign with 2 wins – 4–1 over Orange County Blue Star and 2–0 over the San Francisco Seals – other teams results went against them, and they finished the season a close third, just one point adrift of Fresno Fuego and the San Fernando Valley Quakes. Jacob Wilson was the top scorer of the very impressive opening campaign; testament to this was the fact that, in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, seven Frogs were drafted by Major League Soccer, including Brandon McDonald and Luke Sassano.
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