From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salinas Valley Samba are an American soccer team, founded in 2004. The team is a member of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and plays in the Northwest Conference against teams from Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa.
The Samba play their home matches in "The Pit" at Salinas High School in the city of Salinas, California (the alma mater of author John Steinbeck). The team's colors are silver, black and white.
[edit] 2008 Roster
| No. |
|
Position |
Player |
|
 |
GK |
Cristian Materazzi |
|
|
DF |
Gregory Gonzalez |
|
|
DF |
Nick Lackey |
|
|
MF |
Joseph Cairel |
|
|
MF |
Guido Graziosi |
|
|
MF |
Kyle Satow |
|
|
MF |
Kyle Millerick |
|
|
DF |
Jake True |
|
[edit] History
The Samba joined the MPSL at the end of the inaugural 2003 season, along with the Albuquerque Asylum, the Sonoma Valley Sol, the Sacramento Knights, and the Idaho Wolves. During their first season of play, the Samba finished the league in 5th place, five points behind the Utah Salt Ratz, who ultimately finished the season as league champions.
The 2005 season saw the development of location-specific conferences as more teams were added to the league. This placed Salinas Valley in the Western Conference, with a majority of California teams (with the exception of the Las Vegas Strikers and the Albuquerque Asylum.) The expansion of the league in 2006 brought further development of the conferences, as the Western Conference split into "Northwestern" and "Southwestern", and a Midwestern conference was added. The Salinas Valley Samba are currently in the Northwestern Conference.
The Samba finished the 2005 season in 4th place. Also in 2005 the Samba advanced to the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before being defeated by the Seattle Sounders.
In 2006, they finished the year in 6th place.
Former players include: Striker Ishmael Ibarra of the PDL's Real San Jose, midfielder Diego Soto Real San Jose, Forward Yuri Morales of USL-1 striker, Defender Nate Northrup of USL-2 side the Wilmington Hammerheads, and Forward Eli Delgado of USL-1 squad the Puerto Rico Islanders, and Adam Smarte of the Major League Soccer side San Jose Earthquakes.
[edit] Year-by-year
| Year |
Division |
League |
Reg. Season |
Playoffs |
Open Cup |
| 2004 |
"4" |
MPSL |
5th |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2005 |
"4" |
NPSL |
4th, Western |
Did not qualify |
Second Round |
| 2006 |
"4" |
NPSL |
6th, Northwest |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
| 2007 |
"4" |
NPSL |
4th, Northwest |
Did not qualify |
Did not qualify |
[edit] Citations
NPSL at The American Soccer History Archives
The Samba sensation - team loaded with Santa Cruz players June 8, 2005
USOpenCup.com standings for 2005
Sounders dance past Samba
[edit] External links
