The 2014 Orlando City SC season was the club's fourth season of existence in Orlando, and their final season playing in the lower divisions. A Major League Soccer expansion franchise with the same name began play in 2015. The team entered the season as the defending

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

champions, beating

Charlotte Eagles The Charlotte Eagles are an American professional soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1991, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at ...

in the Championship Game after finishing second in the regular season.

Background

On November 19, 2013, it was announced that Orlando City would be the next expansion franchise in Major League Soccer, the league's 21st team, to begin play in 2015. The announcement was made at

Church Street Station Church Street Station, also called the Old Orlando Railroad Depot, is a historic train station and commercial development in Orlando, Florida. The historic depot and surrounding buildings house a retail and entertainment center. The complex also ...

in downtown Orlando, in the old Cheyenne Saloon, and was attended by an overflow crowd estimated by the Orlando Police Department at around 4,000. This made 2014 their final season in USL Pro. Manager Adrian Heath said that the construction of the team for the 2014 season will be centered around getting players who can potentially move up with the team in 2015. As a result, he allowed several player contracts to lapse, only keeping a handful of vital personnel. He also signed goalkeeper

Carl Woszczynski Carl Matthew Woszczynski (born April 18, 1988) is a retired American soccer player. Playing career Woszczynski attended Columbus North High School in Columbus, Indiana, where he was a four-year varsity starting goalkeeper. He recorded 42 career ...

away from

Los Angeles Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games ...

, to play behind starting goalkeeper and team captain Miguel Gallardo. Orlando City continued their affiliation with Sporting Kansas City through the MLS-USL Pro development alliance for the 2014 season. For the season, Sporting began transitioning their affiliation to

Oklahoma City Energy FC Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. History Oklahoma City businessma ...

, and would split their transfers between the two clubs before making Oklahoma City their sole affiliate in 2015. The day before the MLS announcement, Orlando City and

Orlando Health Orlando Health is a private, not-for-profit network of community and specialty hospitals based in Orlando, Florida. Orlando Health is Central Florida’s fourth largest employer with nearly 23,000 employees and more than 4,500 affiliated physicians ...

announced that the hospital system had signed a multi-year sponsorship contract which would make Orlando Health the team's presenting sponsor for its final USL Pro season, and going into MLS. On June 3, 2014, Phil Rawlins sold Orlando City's USL Pro franchise license to minority owner Wayne Estopinal. While Orlando City moves on to MLS, the remaining USL Pro team will move to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, in 2015 and become

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, known through the 2018 season as the United Soccer League (USL), which is currently the second tier of th ...

. The team will maintain Orlando City's MLS colors. At the same time, James O'Connor retired as a player to become Louisville City's manager. With the Citrus Bowl under construction, and their new stadium planned to open in 2016, Orlando City moved their games to the

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The complex includes ni ...

. They played at Field 17 in the Hess Sports Fields, where they invested to expand its capacity to 5,300.

Competitions

Friendlies

WDW Pro Soccer Classic

The team announced on December 5, 2013, that they would return to the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic.

I-4 Derby

USL Pro

:''All times from this point on

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small p ...

( UTC−04:00)''

USL Pro regular season

= Results summary

= Results

= Standings

USL Pro Playoffs

U.S. Open Cup

Orlando City entered the U.S. Open Cup in the second round.

Club

Roster

Squad information

† = Denotes players on loan through USL Pro-MLS Reserve League alliance
# = Denotes players who retired during the season

Preseason Trialists

*2 — Ashani Fairclough *3 — Mason Trafford *9 — Adrián Ruelas *11 — Miguel Ibarra *16 — R. J. Allen *20 — Romena Bowie

Transfers

In

Aodhan Quinn Aodhan Quinn (born March 22, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays for Phoenix Rising FC in the USL Championship. Career Early career Quinn played college soccer at Bradley University in 2010 and at the Universit ...

was signed on free transfer on March 19, 2014. He was selected by Philadelphia Union in the third round of the

2014 MLS SuperDraft The 2014 MLS SuperDraft was the fifteenth SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The first two rounds of the four round draft took place on January 16, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Rounds three ...

, but did not sign with the club. * Kaká was signed as Orlando City's first

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

on free transfer on July 1, 2014, after being released from

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. *

Giuseppe Gentile Giuseppe Gentile (born 4 September 1943) is a retired Italian triple jumper, who won a bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Biography From 1962 to 1972 Gentile took part in 33 international competitions, including the 1968 and 1972 Summer ...

was signed on free transfer on July 11, 2014. He was released from Chicago Fire following a loan with

. * Harrison Heath was signed on free transfer on July 17, 2014. * Rafael Ramos was signed on August 7, 2014, on transfer from

S.L. Benfica Juniors Juniores do Sport Lisboa e Benfica are the under-19 team of Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica. They hold home matches at Benfica Campus, the club's training ground and youth academy in Seixal. Benfica's under-19s have won a record 25 Camp ...

. * Vladomiro Lameira, also known as "Estrela", was signed on August 7, 2014, on transfer from

Out

* Jamie Watson was transferred to Minnesota United FC for an undisclosed sum on February 20, 2014. * Joseph Toby was transferred to Arizona United SC for future considerations on April 9, 2014. * James O'Connor retired on June 3, 2014, to assume the role of manager at

Loan in

Yordany Álvarez Yordany Álvarez Oropeza, also written as Yordanis Álvarez Oropesa, (born 24 May 1985) is a Cuban retired footballer. Club career Cuba Álvarez began his career in his native Cuba, playing with his hometown club FC Cienfuegos in the Campeon ...

, on loan from

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

. Orlando City also has a transfer in place, where they will acquire Álvarez for the 2015 MLS season in exchange for their lowest 4th-round 2017 MLS SuperDraft pick. The agreement was terminated on August 29, 2014, when Álvarez retired for medical reasons following a collapse during a June 7 match. * Mikey Lopez, on loan from Sporting Kansas City via the USL Pro-MLS Reserve League alliance * Brian Span, on loan from

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

. He was recalled on June 8, 2014, but returned to Orlando City after one match. * Ian Christianson, on loan from

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

Loan out

* Kaká, loaned out for six months to

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, his hometown club. Kaka will then start play with Orlando City on January 1, 2015 in preparation for the Club's inaugural MLS season.

Media

For the 2014 season, all matches will stream live on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. The team's webcasts in 2014 are produced with assistance from the ESPN Innovation Lab. Occasional matches will appear on

Bright House Sports Network Spectrum Sports (formerly known as ''Bright House Sports Network'') was an American regional sports network serving the Tampa Bay and Orlando metropolitan areas of Florida, that was owned by cable television provider Charter Communications which ...

. Some home matches can be heard on the radio as well, either 740 the Game or 102.5/107.7-HD2 WLOQ.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlando City Soccer Club, Season 2014 2014 USL Pro season

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

American soccer clubs 2014 season 2014 in sports in Florida