Jersey Express was an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in Springfield, New Jersey. Founded in 2007, the team played in the

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

(PDL), the fourth tier of the

American Soccer Pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur association football, soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are no ...

, in the Mid Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Prior to the 2011 season the team was known as Newark Ironbound Express. The team's colors were white, Emerald and Gold. Since 2016, the Express played their home games at

Williams Field Williams Field or Willy Field is a United States Antarctic Program airfield in Antarctica. Williams Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 8–10 ft of ice, floa ...

in Elizabeth, NJ. The team formerly played their home games at Lubetkin Field at J. Malcolm Simon Stadium on the campus of the

New Jersey Institute of Technology New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

from 2008-2015. The stadium was demolished in 2015 for NJIT's Wellness and Events Center. The team also fielded a team in the USL's Super-20 League, a league for players 17 to 20 years of age run under the

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

umbrella and teams from ages 10–18 boys and girls Under National Soccer Academy.

History

Newark Ironbound Express entered the PDL in 2007. The senior Express team began life in the PDL with a bang with a 4–1 opening day victory over fellow expansion team New Jersey Rangers that featured a brace from former New York Red Bull and current Haitian international Jerrod Laventure. Ironbound were consistent all year long, enjoying several impressive victories over much more established sides, notably a 3–0 over Ottawa Fury in early June (in which Ted Niziolek scored a hat trick), a 4–0 win on the road against Ocean City Barons (which featured a Laventure hat-trick), a dominant 3–1 win over 2007's unbeatable Hampton Roads Piranhas, and a battling 4–2 triumph over Virginia Legacy. By the time the final weekend rolled around, they were still in with a shot at a place in the Eastern Conference playoffs: they enjoyed overpowering 6–2 demolition of

Westchester Flames Westchester Flames is an American soccer team based in New Rochelle, New York, United States. Founded in 1999, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team plays its home games at City Park Stadium ...

, in which Chris Karcz netted three times, and were fortunate to make the playoffs ahead of Ottawa Fury, who had an exactly equal record, but lost out on head-to-head results. Unfortunately, Ironbound's trip to the playoff was a short one as they fell 4–2 first time out to eventual Conference champions Reading Rage, but for a young side in their debut season there was much to applaud. Chris Karcz and Jerrod Laventure were monsters in front of goal, scoring 10 and 9 goals respectively. In October 2009 the team Owner Mr. Joe Branco Hired Mr. Gali Maimon as new general manager of the organization. The team formally rebranded as Jersey Express on January 6, 2011. On January 10, 2018, the team announced via Twitter that it would no longer operate as an adult soccer organization but would continue youth training.

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.'' * Frank Alesci * Gary Boughton * Alex Luna * Tomer Chencinski * Dilly Duka * Neal Kitson *

Derby Carrillo Derby Rafael Carrillo Berduo (born September 19, 1987) is a Salvadoran professional goalkeeper. Early life and education Carrillo was born in La Mirada, California and attended St. John Bosco High School. He began playing college soccer at Cal ...

* Ryan Meara * Gordon Kljestan * Aviv Volnerman * Tommy McNamara *

Jake Keegan Jake Keegan (born September 7, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for USL League One side Portland Hearts of Pine. Youth career Youth Keegan played 4 seasons at John Jay High School helping the team w ...

* David Abidor * Matt Turner * Mohammad Mashriqi

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL PDL Eastern Conference Champions 2014 * USL PDL Mid-Atlantic Division Champions 2014

Head coaches

* George Vichniakov (2008–2012) * Jeff Matteo (2013-2015) * Anderson DaSilva (2015) * Chiquinho de Assis (2015) * Julian Richens (2016–2017) * Didier Orellana (2017–2018)

Stadia

* Lubetkin Field at J. Malcolm Simon Stadium at

;

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

(2008–2015) ** Stadium at

Holmdel High School Holmdel High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Holmdel Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school ...

;

Holmdel Township, New Jersey Holmdel is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located near Raritan Bay in the Raritan Valley Region, the township is a regional commercial hub of Central Jersey, home to Bell Labs and PNC Bank Arts Center, and a ...

''1 game'' (2010) ** Stadium at Raritan High School;

Hazlet, New Jersey Hazlet is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is located near the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area and is a bedroom community of New York C ...

''2 games'' (2011) *

at Elizabeth High School; Elizabeth, NJ (2016–present) ** Stadium at Long Branch High School;

Long Branch, New Jersey Long Branch is a beachside city in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 31,667, an increase of 948 (+3.1%) from the 2010 census count of 30,719, which in turn reflect ...

''2 games'' (2016)

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive.USL Archive
/ref> Attendance stats also provided by team. * 2008: 328 * 2009: 219 * 2010: 378 * 2011: 389 * 2012: 411 * 2013: 422 * 2014: 452 * 2015: 502 * 2016: 312

References

External links

Official website
(archived 30 April 2017) {{NewYorksports Association football clubs established in 2007 USL League Two teams Soccer clubs in Newark, New Jersey 2007 establishments in New Jersey