Ventura County Fusion is 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
Ventura, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in
USL League Two
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 ...
, 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 pro ...
.
The team plays its home games in the stadium on the campus of
Ventura College
Ventura College is a public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District.
History
Ventura College ...
, the VC SportsPlex, where they have played since 2011. The team's colors are blue, orange and white. All home games are streamed live on the Fusion's YouTube channel. All broadcasts are done in conjunction with CAPS TV in Ventura.
History
The Fusion entered the Premier Development League in 2007 as the first ever soccer franchise from the
Ventura County
Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.
Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...
area of
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
. They played their first competitive game on April 28, 2007, beating fellow expansion franchise
Lancaster Rattlers 2–1, and setting the wheels in motion for what turned out to be a promising first season. Four wins in their next five games – including impressive victories over traditional regional powerhouses
Fresno Fuego and
Orange County Blue Star – propelled the Fusion to the top of the table by mid-season. However, a spate of injuries began to take its toll on their roster, and by the middle of July the Fusion were stuttering towards the finish line, still in with a shout of making the playoffs, but being hampered by damaging defeats to Fresno and the
Southern California Seahorses. By the time the final set of games came round, Fusion needed three points from their final two games to leapfrog the
San Fernando Valley Quakes
San Fernando Valley Quakes was an American soccer team based in Calabasas, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when ...
into the playoffs, but two consecutive ties – 3–3 with
Southern California Seahorses and a hugely disappointing 0–0 with
Los Angeles Storm – meant that they finished their debut season fourth in the table. English striker
Mark Draycott was the team's leading marksman, notching an impressive ten goals, while
Eric Avila and
Chance Myers led the assist stats.
In the offseason, Fusion played against English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English F ...
side
Everton in a closed friendly at the
Home Depot Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...
on July 24, 2007. The match was organised by head coach Smith, who "wanted it to be a reward for their great play during their inaugural season". Later, in early 2008, Fusion hosted games against
Hammarby of the Swedish
Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...
, and
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 20 ...
and
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as on ...
of MLS. Fusion enjoyed a 1–0 victory over a Columbus side that included MLS veterans such as
Frankie Hejduk, despite playing without all their college players, due to NCAA regulations.
Ventura started their second competitive season without the services of
Chance Myers and
Eric Avila, both of whom had been taken in the
2008 MLS SuperDraft, and
Mark Draycott, who had returned to England to play for
Swindon Supermarine. Despite this, anticipation was high that success would be swift, but they actually started the season sluggishly, losing two of their first four games, and not picking up a victory until their 3–0 triumph over
Fresno Fuego in late May. This signalled an about-turn in form; Fusion enjoyed four wins in June, including an impressive 4–1 thrashing of
Fresno Fuego away from home. Two more impressive victories – 2–0 over
Southern California Seahorses and 4–0 over
Lancaster Rattlers – kept Fusion's playoff run on course, but a shock 1–0 defeat to struggling
Orange County Blue Star at home meant that they had to beat eventual divisional champions
San Fernando Valley Quakes
San Fernando Valley Quakes was an American soccer team based in Calabasas, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when ...
in their next game, or their season would be over. The Quakes won 3–2 in a bad-tempered game at
Pierce College, and Ventura were left rueing another year of missed opportunities. They eventually finished the season in 3rd, just two points out of the playoffs;
Hagop Chirishian was the team's top scorer, with 4 goals, while former
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...
midfielder
Rodrigo López led with 3 assists.
On July 21, 2009 the Fusion played
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
of the Barclays Premier League, however the superior class showed through and despite a spirited showing the Fusion went down 5–0.
2009 was a breakout year for Fusion. Having added former MLS players
Ivan Becerra
Jorge Ivan Becerra (born May 22, 1984) is a Mexican former professional soccer player.
Early life and education
Becerra was born May 22, 1984, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He and his family would move to the United States before Becerra's 6th ...
,
Anthony Hamilton and
Adam Smarte to the roster during the offseason, Ventura looked like a decent bet to qualify for the post-season for the first time. Things did not start well; they drew 2–2 with
Bakersfield Brigade in their opening game of the season, and then were thumped 4–0 at home by the
Hollywood United Hitmen next time out. The hammering, however, seemed to bring things into focus, and things improved sharply. From then on, Ventura embarked on an astonishing 12-game unbeaten streak that included six ties and hard-fought victories away at the
Ogden Outlaws, a 3–2 revenge win away at Hollywood, and a 4–2 goal fest at home to the
BYU Cougars
The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West Co ...
in which
Anthony Hamilton scored a brace. A nervy 1–0 loss to the
Los Angeles Legends on the last day of the regular season meant that the Fusion finished third in the Southwest division, but sneaked into the playoffs by the back door as the lowest seed in the West. Fusion beat the Legends 2–1 in the first round of the playoffs thanks to early goals by
Alfonso Motagalvan and
Anthony Hamilton, and then defeated divisional champions Hollywood in extra time thanks to two late goals by
Sam Myerson. For the national quarter finals Ventura travelled to
Laredo, Texas
Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the Flag of th ...
, and dispatched Northwest division champions
Kitsap Pumas 2–1 on an injury-time free kick from
Rodrigo López, and then demolished the
Bradenton Academics 6–1 in searing heat to qualify for their first ever PDL Champiohsip game. Ventura hosted the final, which was broadcast live on
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australia ...
, and snatched a victory from out of the hands of
Chicago Fire Premier with an injury time winner from
Alfonso Motagalvan, despite playing for most of the match with ten men.
Artur Aghasyan and
Anthony Hamilton were Ventura's regular-season top scorers, with 8 goals each, while Hamilton and
Hagop Chirishian contributed 3 assists apiece.
On July 15, 2014, Fusion played a friendly match against
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
from Glasgow, Scotland, which the Fusion won 3–1.
On July 15, 2018,
Jermaine Jones played his last game of competitive football with the Fusion in a 1–0 home loss to FC Golden State Force.
[http://www.vcfusion.com/blog/fusion-pdl-season-wrap-up]
Players
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.''
*
Vardan Adzemian
*
Artur Aghasyan
*
Jean Alexandre
*
Jaime Ambriz
*
Rony Argueta
*
Jack Avesyan
*
Mathayo Huma
*
Eric Avila
*
Diego Barrera
*
Ivan Becerra
Jorge Ivan Becerra (born May 22, 1984) is a Mexican former professional soccer player.
Early life and education
Becerra was born May 22, 1984, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He and his family would move to the United States before Becerra's 6th ...
*
Bryan Byrne
*
Achille Campion
*
Javier Castro
*
Hagop Chirishian
*
Mark Draycott
*
Michael Enfield
*
Gabriel Farfan
*
Michael Farfan
*
Michael Ghebru
*
Manny Guzman
*
Anthony Hamilton
*
J. J. Koval
*
Rodrigo López
*
Alfonso Motagalvan
*
Chance Myers
*
Anton Peterlin
*
Nelson Pizarro
*
Dylan Riley
*
Brad Rusin
*
Jamie Scope
*
Willie Sims
*
Thomaz Thomaz may refer to:
* Américo Thomaz (1894–1987), Portuguese admiral and politician
* Thomaz (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian footballer
* Thomaz Bellucci (born 1987), Brazilian tennis player
* Thomaz Koch (born 1945), Brazilian tennis playe ...
*
Marcus Watson
*
Brent Whitfield
*
Gyasi Zardes
*
Henry Brauner
*
Brian Rowe
*
Abu Danladi
Abu Danladi (born October 18, 1995) is a Ghanaian footballer.
Career Amateur & College
Abu Danladi graduated from Ghana's Right to Dream Academy. He attended Dunn High School in Los Olivos, California. He played college soccer with the UCL ...
*
Joe Holland
*
Nick DePuy
*
Justin Vom Steeg
*
Daniel Steres
*
James Kiffe
*
Jochen Graf
*
Michael Daly
*
Brandon Vincent
*
Earl Edwards Jr.
*
Matt LaGrassa
*
Rony Argueta
*
Tony Alfaro
*
Javan Torre
*
Ismaila Jome
Year-by-year
Honors
* USL PDL Southwest Division Champions: 2010, 2012, 2014
* USL PDL Western Conference Champions: 2009
* USL PDL Champions: 2009
* USL League Two Western Conference Champions: 2022
* USL League Two Champions: 2022
Notable Matches
Head coaches
*
Graham Smith (2007–2009)
*
Ole Mikkelsen (2010–2012)
*
Rudy Ybarra (2013–2019)
* Mike Elias (2019–Present)
Stadia
*
Bulldog Stadium at
Buena High School;
Ventura, California (2007–2010)
*
Panther Stadium at
Newbury Park High School;
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...
, 2 games (2007–2008)
* Stadium at
Ventura College
Ventura College is a public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District.
History
Ventura College ...
;
Ventura, California (2009, 2011–present)
References
External links
*
{{California sports
Association football clubs established in 2006
USL League Two teams
Soccer clubs in Greater Los Angeles
2006 establishments in California
Ventura, California