The 2014–15 Oxford City FC of Texas season was the third

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

for the Beaumont, Texas-based professional indoor soccer franchise. Founded as the Texas Strikers in 2012, new ownership rebranded the team as Oxford City FC of Texas in July 2014. The team was led by Oxford City Football Club, Inc. CEO Thomas Anthony Guerriero and head coach Mariano Bollella. Texas was a Southern Division team in the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

and played their home games at

Ford Arena The Ford Arena is a 9,737-seat multi-purpose arena in Beaumont, Texas, United States, USA. The arena has 34,000 sq ft of exhibit space available for conventions and exhibitions. It also includes 7 production offices, 3 dressing rooms, a 2,448 sq ...

in Beaumont, Texas. They finished the regular season with a 12–8 record then fell to the Dallas Sidekicks in the first round of the MASL playoffs.

Season summary

Oxford City FC of Texas struggled to start the 2014–15 season, dropping their first two games, but rebounded with three consecutive wins. Although another loss briefly returned the team to .500, wins in their next two games gave the team more wins (5) by that point in the season than they earned in their two full seasons as the Texas Strikers (4). The team ended 2014 with a 7–4 record but with the new year (and the mid-season folding of Hidalgo La Fiera) came the addition of several former Hidalgo players and the replacement of head coach Chris "Topper" Cogan by former Hidalgo head coach Mariano Bollella. The team began 2015 with a three-game winning streak, including a road win against the Dallas Sidekicks, before losing 5 of their remaining 6 games, including home and road losses to Dallas. Their 12–8 record was good enough for third place in the Southern Division and qualified the Beaumont-based team for the playoffs. They faced rival Dallas at the

Allen Event Center The Credit Union of Texas Event Center (formerly Allen Event Center) is an American 6,275 fixed-seat multi-purpose indoor arena located in Allen, Texas, a northern suburb of Dallas. The arena opened in 2009 under the name Allen Event Center. Con ...

and lost 5–6, ending their playoff run.

History

Oxford City FC of Texas at Dallas Sidekicks

The 2012–13 season was the first for the expansion Texas Strikers, Beaumont's first professional soccer team. The team struggled early on but split its final six regular season matches, finishing with a 3–13 record. The Strikers stumbled from the start of the 2013–14 season, dropping 15 consecutive matches. Only a home win over the Tulsa Revolution in their final match allowed them to earn a 1–15 record. The team did not qualify for post-season play. In May 2014, the Professional Arena Soccer League added six teams from the failed third incarnation of the Major Indoor Soccer League and reorganized as the

. With the league expansion and reorganization, Texas moved from the Central division to the new Southern division. The other Southern teams for 2014–15 are Texas-based Brownsville Barracudas, Dallas Sidekicks, and Hidalgo La Fiera plus Mexico-based

Monterrey Flash The Monterrey Flash, is a Mexican professional indoor soccer team based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Founded in 2011 as part of the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rapido Profesional (LMFRPro), the team made its debut in the Professional Arena Socc ...

and Saltillo Rancho Seco.

Off-field moves

In September 2014, the team announced that pre-game and post-game entertainment would be provided by a series of

tribute band A tribute act, tribute band or tribute group is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist, such as ...

s. The announced acts include Back in Black, Rock and Roll Over, Light and Shade, and Van Hagar. On December 15, team owner Oxford City Football Club, Inc. announced that it had "successfully come to terms to sell" Oxford City FC of Texas to an unspecified "Latin American group", pending league approval. CEO Thomas Anthony Guerriero said that their "complete focus as an organization needs to be" on

Oxford City F.C. Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

which plays in

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

, a division of

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

at Step 2 of the National League System and the sixth overall tier of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. The new owners were to have licensed the rights to use the "Oxford City FC of Texas" name through the end of the current MASL season. The sale was not completed before the end of the season and the announcement removed from the team's website.

Schedule

Pre-season

Regular season

Originally scheduled for Saturday, November 15.
Rescheduled due to mid-season withdrawal of Hidalgo La Fiera, maintaining 20-game schedule.
Replaces Hidalgo game originally scheduled for that date.

Post-season

Awards and honors

Texas forward Lucas Totti was selected for the 2014-15 MASL All-League Third Team. Totti was also named to the league's all-rookie team for 2014–15. Texas goalkeeper Kyle Renfro earned honorable mention for the all-rookie team. On March 13, the MASL announced the finalists for its major year-end awards. These nominees included Texas forward Lucas Totti for both Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year.

References

External links

Oxford City FC of Texas official websiteOxford City FC of Texas
at

KBMT-TV KBMT (channel 12) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with ABC and NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KUIL-LD (channel 12.5). Both stations share studios along I-10/US 69/U ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Oxford City FC of Texas season Oxford City FC of Texas seasons

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

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