Albany BWP Highlanders was an American soccer team based in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Founded in 2003, the team played in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

(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 Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in nearby

, 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 Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

where he played for Blackwatch Keelley. Freeman spent his first season of college playing for

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the Seminary moved to expand into a ...

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

. 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.'' *

Jhonny Arteaga Jhonny Alexandre Arteaga (born 24 November 1986) is a Colombian former footballer and current football coach. Career Youth and College Arteaga grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, where he attended Westhill High School before playing college socce ...

* Devlin Barnes * Anthony McCann *

Josh Bolton Josh Bolton (born May 26, 1984 in Penfield, New York) is an American soccer player who last played for Charleston Battery in the USL Second Division. Career Youth Bolton grew up in Penfield, New York, and was a childhood fan of the Rochester ...

* Colin Burns *

Scott Cannon Scott Cannon (born July 22, 1968 in Evansville, Indiana) is an American former soccer player who played three seasons in Major League Soccer, two in the American Professional Soccer League, three in the National Professional Soccer League and ...

* Daniel Capecci * Greg Chevalier *

Adrian Dubois Adrian Dubois (born April 16, 1987) is an American former soccer player, who is current an assistant coach for the University of Vermont Vermont Catamounts men's soccer, men's soccer team. Career College and amateur Adrian Dubois attended Fall M ...

* Jordan James * Brian Levey * Ryan Pierce * Derek Popovich * Chris Riley * Dwayne Whylly

Year-by-year

Head coaches

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

Stadia

* Frank Bailey Field;

(2003–2007, 2010) * CBA Stadium;

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

(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