Albany BWP Highlanders was an American soccer team based in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 2003, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two years on hiatus from the league in 2008 and 2009, returning to competition in 2010, then folded at the end of the season.
The team played its home games at Frank Bailey Field on the campus of Union College in nearby Schenectady, New York, The team's colors were black, gold, and white.
History The roots of the Highlanders go back to Steve Freeman's youth in Tampa, Florida where he played for Blackwatch Keelley. Freeman spent his first season of college playing for Hartwick College and another with Siena College, both in New York, before finishing college in Florida. After graduation, he returned to New York and settled in Albany where he taught school. In January 1997, he founded Albany Blackwatch, a youth club modeled on the club he played for as a boy. The club began with two boys teams, but quickly expanded to several boys and girls teams, each with a Scottish-themed name. In 2001, Blackwatch entered a team into the USL Super Y-League. In 2003, Freeman created the Blackwatch Highlanders and entered it into the USL Premier Development League. Freeman served as the general manager and Bernie Watt coached the team.Highlanders open season tonight The Highlanders played from 2003 until 2007, first as Blackwatch and then as the Albany Admirals, the last season with Freeman as head coach. They then went on a two-year hiatus before being resurrected in 2009 as the Albany BWP Highlanders, and re-joined the PDL for the 2010 season.
Notable former players This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.
Jhonny Arteaga Devlin Barnes Anthony McCann Josh Bolton Colin Burns Scott Cannon Daniel Capecci Greg Chevalier Adrian Dubois Jordan James Brian Levey Ryan Pierce Chris Riley Dwayne Whylly
Rosters
Year-by-year
YearDivisionLeagueRegular seasonPlayoffsOpen Cup20034USL PDL6th, NortheastDid not qualifyDid not qualify20044USL PDL3rd, NortheastDid not qualifyDid not qualify20054USL PDL4th, NortheastDid not qualifyDid not qualify20064USL PDL4th, New EnglandDid not qualifyDid not qualify20074USL PDL5th, NortheastDid not qualifyDid not qualify2008On Hiatus200920104USL PDL3rd NortheastDid not qualifyDid not qualify
Head coaches Bernie Watt (2003) Steve Freeman (2007) Franz Zwicklbauer (2010)
Stadia Frank Bailey Field; Schenectady, New York (2003–2007, 2010) CBA Stadium; Albany, New York (2007) 2 games
Average attendance Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20100105175057/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.
2005: 149 2006: 138 2007: 130 2008: Did not play 2009: Did not play 2010: 185
References
External links Official Site Official PDL site