Western Mass Pioneers 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

Ludlow, Massachusetts Ludlow is a New England town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,002 as of the 2020 2020 United States Census, census, and it is considered part of the Springfield Springfield me ...

, United States. Founded in 1998, 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 syste ...

, 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 ...

. The team plays its home games at

Lusitano Stadium Lusitano Stadium, located in Ludlow, Massachusetts, is a 3,000-seat stadium built in 1918 currently used for soccer. Currently its tenants are the Western Mass Pioneers of the USL League Two, the New England Mutiny of United Women's Soccer and t ...

, where they have played since 1998. The team's colors are red, black and white.

History

In August 1997, the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

announced it had awarded an expansion franchise to Gremio Lusitano, an amateur soccer club based in

. The USISL had set a condition for new teams which prohibited ethnic team names which prevented the club from using the name Gremio or Lusitano. Therefore, the region's newspaper, the ''Springfield Union-News'', held a week-long "name the team" contest which resulted in the selection of ''Pioneers''. In October 1997, general manager Rick Andre named

Leszek Wrona Leszek Wrona (born September 20, 1955) is a retired Polish association football defender who played professionally in Poland, Germany and the United States. After his retirement, he remained in the United States where he coached in the USISL and ...

, who had both played for and coached Gremio Lusitano, as head coach of the Pioneers. In September 1999, the Pioneers expressed an interest in moving up to the A-League after winning the USL D-3 Pro League. However, the team elected to remain in the D-3 Pro League. In 2001, John Voight replaced Wrona has head coach. Wrona would return in 2005, leave in 2007 and return again in 2008. By 2003, the team was fielding ten Junior Pioneer youth teams which competed in the Super Y-League. Through all these years, the team has remained under the ownership of Gremio Lusitano. On December 22, 2009, following the exodus of teams from the USL to the new

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

, the Pioneers announced that they would self-relegate, and play 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 syste ...

in 2010.

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.'' * Anthony Augustine *

Almir Barbosa Almir Barbosa (born June 2, 1980) is a Cape Verdean Association football, footballer. Career College and Amateur Born in Cape Verde, Barbosa spent his early childhood in Portugal, before moving to Quincy, Massachusetts, in the United States aged ...

* Steve Covino * Mateus dos Anjos * Paul Kelly *

Joe Germanese Joe Germanese (born June 4, 1985) is an American soccer player. Germanese made his full professional debut and scored his first career goal for Revolution on 1 July 2008, in a US Open Cup third-round game against Richmond Kickers. Prior to pl ...

Jair In the Biblical Book of Judges, Jair or Yair ( he, יָאִיר ''Yā’īr'', "he enlightens") was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh, east of the River Jordan, who judged Israel for 22 years, after the death of Tola, who had ruled of ...

* Matt Jones * Fausto Klinger * Martin Klinger *

Yan Klukowski Yan Klukowski (born 1 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hereford. Club career Youth and College Born and raised in Chippenham, Wiltshire, Klukowski was educated at Sheldon School. His football e ...

* Neil Krause * Bobby Shuttleworth * Mike Lima * David Mahoney *

Ryan Malone Ryan Gregory Malone (born December 1, 1979) nicknamed "Bugsy", is an American former professional ice hockey forward. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. In 2003, ...

Brandon Tyler Brandon Tyler (born October 16, 1988 in Portland, Oregon) is an American soccer player currently playing for New Orleans Jesters in the National Premier Soccer League. Career Tyler grew up in Arizona, where he played for the successful Phoenix ...

* Adam Wallace * Jay Willis

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL League Two Eastern Conference Champions 2021 * USL League Two Northeast Division Champions 2019, 2021 * USL Second Division Regular Season Champions 2005 * USL D-3 Pro League Northern Division Champions 2002 * USL D-3 Pro League Champions 1999 * USL D-3 Pro League Northern Division Champions 1999

Head coaches

(1998–2001, 2004–2006, 2008–2010) * John Voight (2002–2003) * Tom d'Agostino (2007) * Joe Calabrese (2011) * Federico Molinari (2012–present)

Stadia

(1998–present)

References

External links

*
Western Mass Pioneers
at

{{Massachusetts Sports Soccer clubs in Massachusetts USL Second Division teams Ludlow, Massachusetts 1998 establishments in Massachusetts Diaspora soccer clubs in the United States USL League Two teams American Soccer League (2014–2017) teams