Northern Virginia FC

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Northern Virginia FC
Northern Virginia FC logo.png
Full nameNorthern Virginia Football Club
Founded1998;27 years ago (1998) as Northern Virginia Royals
StadiumSegra Field
Leesburg, Virginia
Capacity5,000
League USL League Two
USL W League
Eastern Premier Soccer League
MASL3
2024 4th, Chesapeake Division
Playoffs: DNQ
Website http://www.novafc.org/

Northern Virginia FC (formerly Northern Virginia Royals and Evergreen FC, and commonly known as NoVa FC) is an American soccer club from Leesburg, Virginia competing in USL League Two, USL W League, Eastern Premier Soccer League and Major Arena Soccer League 3.

Contents

The club's women's team was known as the Northern Virginia Majestics, who played in the women's USL W-League, and fielded 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. Throughout their recent history, NVFC previously enjoyed minor league affiliation with D.C. United, the nearby Major League Soccer franchise. [1]

History

Professional

Northern Virginia FC was founded in 1998 and joined the USISL D-3 Pro League as an expansion franchise in 1998, entering the team under the name Northern Virginia Royals. [2] They ended their first season in 7th place in the Atlantic Division with a 5–12–1 record. [3] In their second season, they improved, winning 10 of their 18 regular season games, finishing fourth in the Atlantic Division and also qualified for their first US Open Cup campaign in 1999, where they were upset in the first round by Florida PDL side Cocoa Expos 5–3. [4] In the playoffs they beat divisional rivals South Carolina Shamrocks 2–1 in the first round before falling 4–0 to Charlotte in the conference semi-final. The 1998 season and the Royals were featured in the book "Unlucky: A Season of Struggle in Minor League Professional Soccer" by Dave Ungrady, who trained and played briefly for the Royals as well [5] [6]

The D-3 Pro League became the USL Pro Select League in 2003, and the Royals finished bottom of the 3-team Southern Division, with just 6 wins for the year. The USL Pro Select League became the USL Second Division in 2005, and dispensed with divisions in favor of a single-table format; for the Royals, this proved to be yet another disastrous season.

Move to PDL

After finishing bottom of the league in the USL Second Division, the Royals management took the decision to self-relegate themselves to the USL Premier Development League for the 2006 season. [7] The Royals won their first match in the amateur PDL 3–1 over West Virginia Chaos, ultimately finishing fourth in the Mid Atlantic Division in their debut 2006 season.

The Northern Virginia Royals were inducted into the USL Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007. [7]

Partnership with D.C. United

In 2015, the Royals rebranded as Evergreen FC and partnered with Major League Soccer club D.C. United and formed a joint PDL team called D.C. United U-23, who combined their NPSL side with the Royals, to play in the PDL, finishing fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Division. [8] [9]

Evergreen Hammers

After the 2015 season, the Royals transferred their operations and relocated to Loudon County, Virginia in 2016 playing under the Evergreen FC banner as the Evergreen Hammers. [7] [10]

Northern Virginia FC

For the 2021 season, Evergreen which was already part of the Northern Virginia FC club, renamed the USL League Two club to sit under the NoVa FC banner. [11] NoVa FC had already operated teams under that name in the lower level United Premier Soccer League and Eastern Premier Soccer League. [12]

On 27 August 2021, NoVa FC announced they would be reviving the women's program with a new side in the USL W League beginning in 2022. [13]

Logo history

Logo History NoVa FC logo history.png
Logo History

Year-by-year

Professional/USL League Two

YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonPlayoffs U.S. Open Cup
Northern Virginia Royals
1998 3 USISL D-3 Pro League 7th, Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
1999 USL D-3 Pro League 4th, AtlanticConference Semifinals 1st Round
2000 7th, Southerndid not qualify 2nd Round
2001 4th, Southerndid not qualifydid not qualify
2002 4th, Southerndid not qualifydid not qualify
2003 USL Pro Soccer League 3rd, Southerndid not qualifydid not qualify
2004 3rd, Southerndid not qualifydid not qualify
2005 USL Second Division 9thdid not qualifydid not qualify
2006 4 USL PDL 4th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2007 7th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2008 5th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2009 7th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2010 5th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2011 2nd, South AtlanticConference Quarterfinalsdid not qualify
2012 7th, South Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2013 3rd, South Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2014 6th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonPlayoffs U.S. Open Cup
D.C. United U-23
2015 4USL PDL5th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
Evergreen FC
2016 4 USL PDL 7th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2017 7th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2018 6th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2019 USL League Two 8th, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
Northern Virginia FC
2021 4 USL League Two 3rd, Mid Atlanticdid not qualifydid not qualify
2022 3rd, Chesapeakedid not qualifydid not qualify
2023 2nd, Chesapeakedid not qualifydid not qualify
2024 4th, Chesapeakedid not qualifydid not qualify

Eastern Premier Soccer League

YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonRecord (W-D-L)Playoffs U.S. Open Cup*
2020–215 Eastern Premier Soccer League 2nd, Mid-Atlantic6–0–1did not qualify 2nd Round
2021–221st, Mid-Atlantic12–0–1 Champion 4th Qualifying Round
2022–231st, Mid-Atlantic10–0–0 Champion 4th Qualifying Round

*Club entered in local qualifying round

Major Arena Soccer League 3

YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonRecord (W-L-T)Playoffs
2021–223 Major Arena Soccer League 3 1st, East10–0–0 Champion
2022–23 Major Arena Soccer League 3 1st, East7–2–0 Champion

USL W League

YearDivisionLeagueRegular SeasonRecord (W-L-T)Playoffs
2022 4 USL W League 5th, Mid Atlantic1–7–2did not qualify
2023 USL W League 3rd, Mid Atlantic6–0–5did not qualify
2024 USL W League 6th, Mid Atlantic4–8–0did not qualify
2025 USL W League 2nd, Mid Atlantic7–2–1did not qualify

Honors

League

Cups

Statistics

Career USL 2 Goal Leaders

RankPlayerGoalsCareer span
1AJ Sheta132016-
2JP Ayolmbong122022-
3Vagner Marquis112022-
4Tyler Clegg82018-2022
5KJ Nadeau72019-
6Bernardo Majano62016-2019
6Martin Ngoh62021
8DJ Charlton52018-2019
9Luke Campbell42021-
9Connor Coward42016-2017
9Jhonny de Souza42018-
9John Emmons42017-2018
9Lewis Long42017
14Samuel Biyo32018
14Graydon Hester32016-2017
14Iliass Laghjibi32022-
14Declan Quill32023-
14Alton West32021-

*Through 2023 USL 2 Season

Head coaches

References

  1. "Royals Owner Mo Sheta Inducted in USL Hall of Fame". Northern Virginia Royals.
  2. Kuhns, Will (April 10, 1998). "Local Players, Coach Gonzalo make Royal Entrance to USISL". Washington Post .
  3. "USL Pro Media Guide". United Soccer League . 2012.
  4. "U.S. Open Cup: First-round result (June 10)". Soccer America. June 11, 1999.
  5. Holroyd, Steve (December 28, 2017). "Putting the book in: American soccer literature to read this winter". The Philly Soccer Page.
  6. Edwards, Bob (April 28, 1999). "Soccer". NPR .
  7. 1 2 3 "Evergreen FC formerly Northern Virginia Royals". Northern Virginia Royals.
  8. Candeloro, Christian (May 15, 2015). "New York Red Bulls and D.C. United U23 Join PDL". Ocean City FC. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
  9. "D.C. United Under-23 team to compete in Premier Development League in 2015". D.C. United. February 19, 2015.
  10. "Next-Level Soccer: Evergreen Hammers Host Final Game Saturday". Loudoun Now. June 22, 2016.
  11. "UNVEILING THE SCHEDULE: USL League Two will kick off May 1". Front Row Soccer. February 25, 2021.
  12. "EPSL Welcomes Northern Virginia FC". EPSL . August 26, 2020.
  13. "Northern Virginia FC Announced as Newest Club to Join USL W League". www.uslwleague.com. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  14. Royals Hire Burke as PDL Coach