Tulsa Athletic

Tulsa Athletic

Full name	Tulsa Athletic
Nickname(s)	The A's
Founded	2013;11 years ago (2013)
Stadium	Athletic Community Field at Hicks Park
Owners	Sonny Dalesandro Thomas J. Kern
Head coach	Jason Rogers
League	National Premier Soccer League The League for Clubs (from 2025)
2023	NPSL National Champions
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors Third colors

Tulsa Athletic is an American soccer team and are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The 2023 NPSL National Champion, 2013 was their inaugural season in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), which is a national league at the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. They compete in the NPSL's Heartland Conference. The team maintains amateur status under NPSL rules, allowing college players to participate without losing their collegiate eligibility. The club currently plays at Athletic Community Field at Hicks Park since the 2022 season, having previously played at Veterans Park (2018–21), LaFortune Stadium (2017) and Drillers Stadium (2013–16), the former home of the Tulsa Drillers baseball team. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

On May 20, 2024, Tulsa Athletic were suspended from the NPSL, meaning that they wouldn't defend their title. ^[4] On July 31st they announced that they would leave the NPSL in order to start their own amateur league entitled "The League for Clubs", with Athletic being founding members alongside Atlantic City FC, FC Davis, Kingston Stockade FC and Napa Valley 1839 FC.

Crest and colors

The green that Athletic wears is symbolic of "green country", the moniker given to the area of Oklahoma where Tulsa sits. The gold in the pinstripes that appear on the home kit (and are the dominant color of the away kit) represents trophies, championships, and victory. The crest is a pink shield featuring a unicorn facing a lion surrounding a soccer ball, symbolizing both strength and magic. The pink color of the crest is designed to illustrate the heart. The badge's location over the heart on the jersey signifies that all who wear the crest (players and fans alike) share the same heart.^{[ citation needed ]}

Support

A supporters group associated with Tulsa Athletic are the Athletics Armory, who congregate behind the north goal at home matches.^{[ citation needed ]}

Fans have given the team several unofficial nicknames, including "the A's" and "The Foxes", named after 'Lester', a lone fox who resides in the team's stadium.^{[ citation needed ]}

Rivalries

In 2014 Oklahoma City FC left PDL to join the NPSL, which created an in-state rivalry. The two clubs separated by just 100 miles played in the OK Derby.^{[ citation needed ]}

The inaugural Red River Cup was contested in May 2014.^{[ citation needed ]} Four clubs (Fort Worth Vaqueros, Liverpool Warriors, Oklahoma City FC) met in a two-day tournament hosted by Tulsa, who won the title over Oklahoma City FC. ^{[5] [ better source needed ]}

Oklahoma City 1889 FC joined the NPSL in 2021 which resulted in another in-state rivalry, with supporters choosing the name “The War for I-44.”^{[ citation needed ]}

A crosstown derby against FC Tulsa was established in 2022 through the U.S. Open Cup nicknamed the Tulsa Derby.

Tulsa Derby

Record

Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
1	0	1	2	2

Results

Date	Competition	Winner	Score	Location
April 5, 2023	U.S. Open Cup	Tulsa Athletic	1–0	Hicks Park
April 5, 2022	U.S. Open Cup	FC Tulsa	1–2	ONEOK Field

War for I-44

Record

Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
8	0	2	24	11

Results

Date	Competition	Winner	Score	Location
June 12, 2024	Friendly	Tulsa Athletic	2-1	Tulsa, OK
July 15, 2023	NPSL Playoffs	Tulsa Athletic	2–1	Claremore, OK
June 17, 2023	NPSL	Tulsa Athletic	2–1	Claremore, OK
May 24, 2023	NPSL	OKC 1889	0-1	Oklahoma City, OK
July 16, 2022	NPSL Playoffs	Tulsa Athletic	5–1	Tulsa, OK
July 16, 2022	NPSL	Tulsa Athletic	5–1	Tulsa, OK
May 25, 2022	NPSL	Tulsa Athletic	3–0	Oklahoma City, OK
July 14, 2021	NPSL Playoffs	Tulsa Athletic	2–2 (5–4 in PKs)	Tulsa, OK
June 27, 2021	NPSL	Tulsa Athletic	2–0	Edmond, OK
May 16, 2021	NPSL	OKC 1889	1–3	Tulsa, OK

Current squad

As of April 2023

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   USA Bryson Reed 2 DF   USA Chris Taylor 3 MF   USA Jonathan Harris 4 DF   USA Rio Ramirez 5 DF   USA Alejandro Chavez 6 MF   BRA Vinicius Oliveira 7 FW   SRB Stefan Cvetanović 9 FW   USA Aaron Ugbah 10 FW   ENG Jordan Watson 11 MF   USA Roman Torres

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 FW   USA Titus Grant 13 DF   MEX Javo Reyes 17 MF   USA Joe Garcia 18 MF   USA Mitchell Cashion 19 MF   MEX Ruben Torres 20 MF   USA Ciaran Winters 21 DF   USA Joe Ruiz 22 MF   GAB Aboubakr Diallo 23 MF   BRA Riolan Mello 25 GK   USA Brady Moody

Year-by-year

Year	Division	League	Regular Season	W-D-L (GF-GA)	Playoffs	W-D-L (GF-GA)	U.S. Open Cup	W-D-L (GF-GA)	National Amateur Cup	W-D-L (GF-GA)
2013	4	NPSL	1st, South Central	10–2–0 (44–9)	South Region Semifinal	0–0–1 (0–0 [A] )	did not qualify		did not play
2014	4	NPSL	1st, South Central	9–0–1 (46–13)	South Region Final	3–0–1 (14–6)	2nd Round	0–0–1 (0–2)	did not play
2015	4	NPSL	3rd, South Central	7–3–4 (52–33)	did not qualify		1st Round	0–0–1 (1–3)	did not play
2016	4	NPSL	1st, South Central	11–0–1 (38–9)	South Central Conference Final	1–0–1 (5–3)	did not qualify		did not play
2017	4	NPSL	2nd, Heartland	5–1–4 (25–16)	Heartland Conference Final	1–0–1 (2–5)	1st Round	0–0–1 (1–1 [A] )	did not play
2018	4	NPSL	3rd, Heartland	6–0–4 (26–17)	Heartland Conference Semifinal	0–0–1 (0–1)	did not qualify		did not play
2019	4	NPSL	1st, Heartland	7–3–0 (24–8)	South Region Final	3–0–1 (12–7)	did not qualify		did not play
2020	4	UPSL	1st, Central-North	13–0–1 (60–11)	Central Region Semifinal	1–0–1 (4–4)	not held		did not play
2021	4	NPSL	2nd, Heartland	6–3–1 (32–9)	NPSL National Championship Runner Up	4–0–1 (8–9)	not held		did not play
2022	4	NPSL	1st, Heartland	9–2–1 (36–10)	NPSL National Semifinal	4–0–1 (8–3)	2nd Round	1–0–1 (4–2)	did not play
2023	4	NPSL	1st, Heartland	7-2-1 (23-8)	NPSL National Champions	6-0-0 (15-6)	3rd Round	2–0–1 (2–3)	Region III Final	2-1-2 (10-14)
2024	4	– [lower-alpha 1]	– [6]	3-2-0 (11-3)	American Champions Cup Winners [7]	1-0-0 (2-1)	1st Round	0–0–1 (1-4)	did not play

^

Lost on Penalties

All time Table

Match Type	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Regular Season	129	93	18	18	417	146	+271	072.09
Playoffs	33	24	0	9	70	44	+26	072.73
U.S. Open Cup	9	3	0	6	9	15	−6	033.33
National Amateur Cup	5	2	1	2	10	14	−4	040.00
Total	176	122	19	35	506	220	+286	069.32

• Updated as of July 2, 2024

Head coaches

• Includes all competitive matches: regular season, playoffs, and open cup.

Coach	Nationality	Start	End	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Joey Ryan	United States	2013	2019	95	63	9	23	290	133	+157	066.32
Levi Coleman	United States	2020	2023	50	38	5	7	152	48	+104	076.00
Jason Rogers	United States	2023	Present	24	17	3	4	50	31	+19	070.83

Honors

Club

• USASA
  • American Champions Cup Champions (1): 2024
• NPSL
  • National Champions (1): 2023
  • National Runners-Up (1): 2021
• NPSL Midwest Region
  • Champions (1): 2023
• NPSL South Region
  • Champions (2): 2021, 2022
    • Runners-Up (2): 2014, 2019
• NPSL South-Central Conference
  • Champions (2): 2013, 2014
• NPSL Heartland Conference
  • Champions (4): 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
  • Regular Season Shield (3): 2019, 2022, 2023
• Red River Cup
  • Champions (1): 2014
• UPSL Central Conference-North Division
  • Champions (1): 2020

Year	Honor
2013	South-Central Conference Champions
2014	South-Central Conference Champions
2014	South Region Runners-Up
2014	Red River Cup Champions
2019	Heartland Conference Shield
2019	Heartland Conference Champions
2019	South Region Runners-Up
2020	Central Conference-North Division Champions
2021	Heartland Conference Champions
2021	South Region Champions
2021	National Championship Runners-Up
2022	Heartland Conference Shield
2022	Heartland Conference Champions
2022	South Region Champions
2023	Heartland Conference Shield
2023	Heartland Conference Champions
2023	Midwest Region Champions
2023 [8]	NPSL National Champions
2024	American Champions Cup Winners

Individual

Year	Player	Position	Honor
2016	Dave Leung	Forward	Supporters' XI – First Team
2016	Terence Smith	Defender	Supporters' XI – Second Team
2017	Joe Garcia	Midfielder	South Region Best XI
2018	Damieon Thomas	Forward	Heartland Conference XI
2018	Declan Fitzpatrick	Midfielder	Heartland Conference XI
2019	Aboubakr Diallo	Forward	Heartland Conference XI
2019	Joseph Ruiz	Midfielder	Heartland Conference XI
2019	Gustavo Vargas	Defender	Heartland Conference XI
2019	Joey Ryan	Manager	Heartland Conference XI
2019	Joseph Ruiz	Midfielder	South Region XI
2019	Gustavo Vargas	Defender	South Region XI
2020	Santiago Riveros	Midfielder	UPSL Central Best XI
2020	Hunter Harrison	Goalkeeper	UPSL Central Best XI
2021	Aboubakr Diallo	Forward	Heartland Conference XI
2021	Joseph Garcia	Midfielder	Heartland Conference XI
2021	Joseph Ruiz	Defender	Heartland Conference XI
2021	Levi Coleman	Manager	Heartland Conference XI
2021	Levi Coleman	Manager	South Region XI
2021	Levi Coleman	Manager	National XI
2021	Levi Coleman	Manager	NPSL Coach of the Season
2022	Reed Berry	Forward	Heartland Conference XI
2022	Vinicius De Oliveira	Midfielder	Heartland Conference XI
2022	Joseph Ruiz	Defender	Heartland Conference XI
2021	Levi Coleman	Manager	Heartland Conference XI
2022	Joseph Ruiz	Defender	South Region XI
2023	Aboubakr Diallo	Forward	Heartland Conference XI
2023	Rio Mello	Midfielder	Heartland Conference XI
2023	Vitor Turnes	Defender	Heartland Conference XI
2023	Bryson Reed	Goalkeeper	Heartland Conference XI
2023	Aboubakr Diallo	Forward	Midwest Region XI
2023	Vitor Turnes	Midfield	Midwest Region XI
2023	Bryson Reed	Goalkeeper	Midwest Region XI
2023	Aboubakr Diallo	Forward	National XI

Records

• Biggest win: 13–0 vs BCS Clash, May 11, 2014
• First win: vs Liverpool Warriors, May 18, 2013
• 50th win: vs Demize NPSL, May 19, 2018
• 100th win: vs Laredo Heat, July 20, 2022
• First goal: Omar Mata vs Liverpool Warriors, May 18, 2013
• 100th goal: Damieon Thomas vs Corinthians FC of San Antonio, July 13, 2014
• 250th goal: Gustavo Vargas vs Demize NPSL, June 24, 2018

Notes

1. Tulsa Athletic planned to participate in the NPSL in 2024, but they were suspended on May 20. ^[4]

References

1. Ferguson, John D. (April 5, 2013). "Tulsa's new pro soccer team to play at Drillers Stadium". Tulsa World .
2. Bewley, Dan (April 4, 2013). "National Premiere League Soccer Coming To Tulsa's Old Drillers Stadium". KOTV-DT.
3. "Soccer: Tulsa Athletic release schedule". Tulsa World . Tulsa, OK: World Publishing Company. February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
4. Tulsa Athletic (2024-05-20). "NPSL SUSPENDS TULSA ATHLETIC FOR 2024 SEASON". Tulsa Athletic.
5. "Athletics Win the First Annual Red River Cup". Tulsa Athletics. 5 May 2014.
6. Tulsa Athletic (2024-06-03). "TULSA ATHLETIC ANNOUNCES 2024 SUMMER SCHEDULE". Tulsa Athletic.
7. Tulsa Athletic (2024-06-30). "TULSA ATHLETIC CAPTURES 2024 AMERICAN CHAMPIONS CUP WITH 2-1 WIN OVER HOUSTON REGALS". Tulsa Athletic.
8. "TULSA ATHLETIC CROWNED 2023 NPSL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS". www.NPSL.com. National Premier Soccer League. August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.

External links

• Official website