Albany BWP Highlanders was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

, 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 Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

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 Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

, 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 The Super Y League is a youth soccer league with teams from the United States and Canada. Founded in 1999, the Super Y League is dedicated to the progression of future professional players and has steered the course for development of elite cl ...

. 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. 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.'' *

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Anthony McCann Anthony McCann is an American poet. He is the author of four collections of poetry, including ''Father of Noise,'' ''Moongarden,'' and ''I ♥ Your Fate.'' He is also the author of ''Gentle Reader!'', a book of erasures of the English Romantics, w ...

* Josh Bolton *

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* Jordan James *

Brian Levey Brian Levey (born April 11, 1984 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American soccer player who previously played for the Real Maryland Monarchs in the USL Second Division. Career College and Amateur Levey attended North Allegheny Senior High ...

* Ryan Pierce *

Derek Popovich Derek Popovich (born April 24, 1981 in Syracuse, New York, United States) is a midfielder who plays for American MISL side Syracuse Silver Knights. Popovich grew up in Baldwinsville, New York. He attended SUNY Oswego, playing on the men's soc ...

* Chris Riley *

Dwayne Whylly Dwayne Desmond Whylly Jr. (born 26 November 1986) is a Bahamian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Bahamas national team. Education * Yale University (2004-2008), at Yale he pledged Delta Kappa Epsilon * Harris Manchester College, O ...

Year-by-year

Head coaches

* Bernie Watt (2003) * Steve Freeman (2007) * Franz Zwicklbauer (2010)

Stadia

; Schenectady, New York (2003–2007, 2010) *

CBA Stadium CBA may refer to: Maths and science * Casei Bifidus Acidophilus, a bacterium * Colicin, activity protein * Complete Boolean algebra, a concept from mathematics * Cytometric Bead Array, a bead-based immunoassay * Cell Based Assay, also a kin ...

; 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
{{New York Sports Sports in Schenectady County, New York Men's soccer clubs in New York (state) Defunct Premier Development League teams Association football clubs established in 2003 Association football clubs disestablished in 2010 2003 establishments in New York (state) 2010 disestablishments in New York (state) Schenectady, New York