Hollywood United Hitmen

Hollywood United Hitmen was an American soccer team based in Los Angeles. The team was founded in 2009 and played in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and the USL Premier Development League (PDL).

The team played its home games in Cougar Stadium at Crenshaw High School, where they played since 2011. The team's colors are black, gold and white.

History

Hollywood United Hitmen was formed as a result of a collaboration between the 2008 USL W-League champions Pali Blues and the Hollywood United organization, who acquired the franchise right from the San Fernando Valley Quakes in 2009.

Hollywood United is an internationally famous Los Angeles-based amateur team which has, for many years, competed in local amateur leagues. Over the years, celebrity players such as actors Anthony LaPaglia, Dermot Mulroney, Brandon Routh, Gilles Marini, Ralf Little, Donal Logue, and Jimmy Jean-Louis, musicians Steve Jones, Robbie Williams, Christian Olde Wolbers and Ziggy Marley, film director Danny Cannon, MLS veteran Paul Bravo, and former international soccer players Vinnie Jones, Eric Wynalda, John Harkes, Alexi Lalas, Richard Gough and Frank Leboeuf have played for the "senior" Hollywood United team.

The Hitmen played their first official PDL game on May 1, 2009, a 1–0 victory over the Fresno Fuego., with the first goal in franchise history being scored by Armando Ochoa. The first half of the season continued spectacularly for the Hitmen, winning their next four games on the bounce, demolishing Ventura County Fusion and Bakersfield Brigade 4–0 each, and not conceding a goal until their topsy-turvy 4–3 victory over Ogden Outlaws in mid-May. During the early part of the season, Hollywood negotiated a deal with Los Angeles Galaxy whereby some of the MLS team's fringe players would join the Hitmen on loan to keep up their match fitness levels, following the demise of the MLS Reserve Division; Tristan Bowen, Leonard Griffin, Kyle Patterson and Israel Sesay all contributed to the Hollywood cause with several goals and assists during their spells. They suffered their first defeat 1–0 away to BYU Cougars, and endured a rocky spell in June when they went three games without a win, but bounced back to demolish Ogden 7–3 at home thanks to a brace from striker Jaime Chavez. Halfway through the season head coach Michael Erush left the team to take up a coaching position with the US national soccer team competing at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel; his position as head coach was taken over by his assistant, Mat Herold. Despite being involved in an astonishing 0–0 tie with the Los Angeles Legends in early July in which seven players were shown red cards, Hollywood wrapped up the Southwest Division title with a 3–2 come-from-behind victory over the Southern California Seahorses, and secured a bye to the final of the divisional playoffs. Unfortunately, the Hitmen were unexpectedly dropped 3–1 by Ventura County Fusion in extra time, and had to be content with nothing more than the divisional title in their first year in PDL competition. Jaime Chavez was Hollywood's top scorer, with 10 goals, while both Nick Kohlschreiber and Armando Ochoa contributed three assists each.

Hollywood began 2010 with the introduction of a new head coach - former Los Angeles Galaxy forward Jose Botello - and a cache of new internationals including former Bayern Munich midfielder Emanuel Bentil, El Salvador international Edwin Miranda, and Mutala Mohammed, a Ghanaian youth international with CAF Champions League experience. Despite the wealth of talent, Hollywood stuttered through their opening games; a promising 3–0 opening-day victory on the road against Fresno Fuego was followed by a pair of demoralizing losses to the Southern California Seahorses and the Los Angeles Azul Legends, and a 3–3 tie at home against Fresno which saw the Hitmen throw away a 2-goal lead and concede an 88th-minute equalizer. The tide turned following a 3–1 victory over national champions Ventura County Fusion in late May, and from then on Hollywood became a free-scoring goal machine, losing just one of their next 11 games. Mutala Mohammed and Shay Spitz both scored twice in a 6–3 victory over the Lancaster Rattlers, they beat Ventura for a second time with a convincing 3–0 win in June, Jaime Chavez bagged a brace in 6–2 win on the road against the Ogden Outlaws, and Brent Whitfield scored twice on his debut in the 4–1 win in the return fixture against Ogden on the final day of the regular season. Finishing second in the division behind Ventura, Hollywood traveled to Bremerton, Washington for the Western Conference playoffs, where they played Northwest Division champs Portland Timbers U23's. Despite taking an early lead, Hollywood lost 2–1 to the eventual national champions. Jaime Chavez was the top marksman for the Hitmen, with 11 goals and 7 assists.

Players

2011 roster

''Source:'

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.''

* Steven Akers
* Federico Bianchi
* Tristan Bowen
* Jaime Chavez
* Shahryar Dastan
* Adriano Francisco
* Leonard Griffin
* Edwin Miranda
* José Miranda
* Mutala Mohammed
* Kyle Patterson
* Israel Sesay
* Willie Sims
* Julian Valentin

Staff

* Jose Botello ''Head Coach''
* Jason Mathot ''General Manager''
* Humberto Mier ''Assistant Coach''
* Jesse Colon ''Assistant Coach''
* Kenzo Bergeron ''Director of Operations''
* Jon Broxton ''Game Day Operations''
* Christian Olde Wolbers ''Game Day Operations''
* Alexandria Lacayo ''Trainer''

Year-by-year

Honors

* NPSL Western Conference Champions 2011
* NPSL Northwest Division Champions 2011
* USL PDL Southwest Division Champions 2009

Head coaches

* Michael Erush (2009)
* Mat Herold (2009)
* Jose Botello (2010–present)

Stadia

* Stadium by the Sea at Palisades Charter High School; Pacific Palisades, California (2009–2010)
* Titan Stadium at California State University, Fullerton; Fullerton, California 1 game (2009)
* Stadium at Crenshaw High School; Crenshaw, California (2011–present)
* Stadium at Rosemead High School; Rosemead, California (2011) 1 game

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.

* 2009: 113
* 2010: 145

References

External links

Official Site

{{USSoccer

USL League Two teams
Soccer clubs in Los Angeles
Association football clubs established in 2009
2009 establishments in California