WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2012 - While women's professional soccer in the United States at the highest level is at a standstill and struggling, women's amateur soccer is flourishing. The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) has just added another local team, Maryland Capitols FC for the 2012 season.
The Maryland Capitols FC will play at the Prince Georges Sports Complex in Landover, Maryland, and will be the second WPSL team in the state, along with ASA Chesapeake Charge which will move to the new WPSL Elite League.
The Maryland Capitols will be run and coached by David Jones, formerly of the Philadelphia Pirates from 2005 to 2006, before he joined the U.S. Army. Jones is now stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
“I came back in April of 2011 and got back in touch with the WPSL, mainly because there was a niche market with Washington Freedom not being around," Jones said. "...I felt there was certainly room to bring a team into South Maryland.”
The English-born Jones played in the Manchester United youth system. He played with Stockport County and Chester City in England and Tenerife in the Spanish B League.
The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is the largest national Women’s Soccer League in the world. With more than 70-plus women’s soccer teams, the WPSL is the leading amateur soccer league in America.
Jones said that he hopes to establish the local brand in the Washington D.C. Metro area as an alternative to D.C. United Women in the W-League.
“For us it’s important to get our own identity,” Jones said. “We’re not trying to be Washington Freedom, we’re not trying to be D.C. United Women, we’re trying to be the premier women’s soccer franchise in the Maryland area.”
Players for the Maryland Capitols will likely come from Washington Freedom alumni who are still in the area and players from the University of Maryland, Georgetown, George Mason and other local universities.
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