SOCCER
GREG GARDNER PHOTOS
Andrew Helm dribbles down field with Villages SC players in pursuit. The Surf won their franchise home opener 1-0.
Semi-pro soccer arrives in Port St. Lucie
BY GREG GARDNER
Semiprofessional soccer is riding the wave to the Treasure
Coast as Port St. Lucie is home to South Florida
Surf, the Professional Development League’s newest
Florida team.
With just 36 hours of practice, the team won its first exhibition
game April 23, beating Miami United 2-0 at the South
County Regional Sports Complex across from Tradition Field
in Port St. Lucie.
“It was phenomenal and I was so pleased to win our first
game in front of 1,800 people,” head coach Peter Fuller says.
“I’m so happy for the players. They put their hearts and souls
into it and performed very well together. I was pleased on
so many different levels. They played as a solid 11-man unit
with only a day and a half to practice together.”
Fuller brings 32 years coaching experience and says he is
here to stay until the team’s owners say otherwise. He has
been named National Coach of the Year three times by the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Conference
Coach of the Year 10 times and Regional Coach of the Year
five times. A member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, Fuller is
the only man in league history to coach two college teams to
national championships, Belhaven University and the University
of Mobile. He also served as head coach for the Major
League Soccer team New England Revolution.
With 65 teams nationwide, the PDL is considered the
largest pathway to pro soccer in North America, the soccer
equivalent of baseball’s AA development league with players
hoping to move up to the big leagues. Fuller says 90 percent
of his players are ages 19 to 23 with most of them off from
college for the summer. “We are a hodgepodge, a melting pot >>
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