# 2000 PDL season

The 2000 USL Premier Development League season was the 6th PDL season. The season began in April 2000 and ended in August 2000.
Chicago Sockers finished the season as national champions, beating Mid-Michigan Bucks 1–0 in the PDL Championship game. Westchester Flames had finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 15 out of their 18 games, suffering just three losses, and finishing with a +26 goal difference.

## Changes from the 1999 season
### Rules

This is the first year that the PDL used ties in the standings, whereas previous seasons employed a shootout.

### Name changes

The following teams changed their name:
* The West Michigan Explosion became the West Michigan Edge.

### New teams

10 New teams were added, including 8 expansion teams:
| Team Name | Metro Area | Location | Previous Affiliation |
| Alabama Saints | Birmingham area | Birmingham, AL | returned from hiatus |
| Boulder Nova | Boulder area | Boulder, CO | expansion |
| Broward County Wolfpack | Broward County area | Fort Lauderdale, FL | expansion |
| Dayton Gems | Dayton Area | Dayton, OH | expansion |
| New Brunswick Brigade | New Brunswick area | New Brunswick, NJ | expansion |
| North Jersey Imperials | North Jersey area | Paramus, NJ | from D3 Pro League |
| Palm Beach Pumas | Palm Beach area | Palm Beach, FL | expansion |
| South Florida Future | Southwest Florida area | Sarasota, FL | returned from hiatus |
| Tampa Bay Hawks | Tampa Bay Area | Palm Harbor, FL | expansion |
| Thunder Bay Chill | Thunder Bay Area | Thunder Bay, Ontario | expansion |

### Folding

Eight teams folded before the season:
* Clarksville Gunners
* Jackson Chargers
* Miami Tango
* New York Capital District Shockers
* Orlando Nighthawks
* Silicon Valley Ambassadors
* Sioux City Breeze
* Tucson Amigos

## Standings

* Legend
* Division champion
* Team qualified for playoff berth
* Regular season champion and bye into PDL Semifinals.

### Central Conference
#### Great Lakes Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Mid-Michigan Bucks | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 64 | 21 | +43 | 14 | 71 |
| 2 | Dayton Gems | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 37 | 35 | +2 | 7 | 44 |
| 3 | West Michigan Edge | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 32 | 38 | −6 | 7 | 43 |
| 4 | Kalamazoo Kingdom | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 7 | 43 |
| 5 | Indiana Invaders | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 35 | 43 | −8 | 5 | 37 |
| 6 | Lexington Bluegrass Bandits | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 47 | −21 | 5 | 25 |

#### Heartland Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Chicago Sockers | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 45 | 17 | +28 | 10 | 62 |
| 2 | Rockford Raptors | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 38 | 35 | +3 | 8 | 46 |
| 3 | Des Moines Menace | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 63 | 28 | +35 | 5 | 45 |
| 4 | Wisconsin Rebels | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 6 | 43 |
| 5 | Twin Cities Tornado | 18 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 2 | 32 |
| 6 | Thunder Bay Chill | 18 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 20 | 49 | −29 | 2 | 19 |

#### Provisional Teams

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Louisiana Outlaws | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 27 |
| 2 | Alabama Saints | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Central Jersey Riptide | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 31 | −21 | 1 | 5 |
* 1 2 3 Provisional teams are not eligible for playoffs

### Eastern Conference
#### Northeast Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Westchester Flames | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 47 | 21 | +26 | 10 | 70 |
| 2 | Vermont Voltage | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 37 | 22 | +15 | 8 | 53 |
| 3 | New York Freedom | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 8 | 49 |
| 4 | Brooklyn Knights | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 30 | 32 | −2 | 4 | 41 |
| 5 | North Jersey Imperials | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 38 | 49 | −11 | 6 | 34 |
| 6 | New Brunswick Brigade | 18 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 22 | 56 | −34 | 1 | 10 |

#### Southeast Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Hawks | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 52 | 35 | +17 | 9 | 58 |
| 2 | Bradenton Academics | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 43 | 27 | +16 | 8 | 53 |
| 3 | Cocoa Expos | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 6 | 51 |
| 4 | Central Florida Kraze | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 46 | 34 | +12 | 8 | 50 |
| 5 | Palm Beach Pumas | 18 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 7 | 41 |
| 6 | South Florida Future | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 30 | 43 | −13 | 3 | 35 |
| 7 | Broward County Wolfpack | 18 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 36 | 56 | −20 | 7 | 25 |
| 8 | Miami Breakers | 18 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 27 | 46 | −19 | 5 | 18 |

### Western Conference
#### Rocky Mountain Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Colorado Comets | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 51 | 29 | +22 | 7 | 56 |
| 2 | Wichita Jets | 18 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 46 | 60 | −14 | 7 | 41 |
| 3 | Boulder Nova | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 38 | 32 | +6 | 7 | 40 |
| 4 | Kansas City Brass | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 41 | 56 | −15 | 6 | 28 |
| 5 | Colorado Springs Stampede | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 27 | 46 | −19 | 3 | 25 |

#### Northwest Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Yakima Reds | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 59 | 29 | +30 | 11 | 60 |
| 2 | Spokane Shadow | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 36 | +7 | 7 | 54 |
| 3 | Seattle Sounders Select | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 33 | 28 | +5 | 6 | 51 |
| 4 | Abbotsford 86ers Select | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 9 | 42 |
| 5 | Cascade Surge | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 34 | 28 | +6 | 6 | 28 |
| 6 | Willamette Valley Firebirds | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 28 | 71 | −43 | 4 | 16 |

#### Southwest Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
| 1 | San Fernando Valley Heroes | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 57 | 48 | +9 | 12 | 56 |
| 2 | Central Coast Roadrunners | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 9 | 53 |
| 3 | Nevada Zephyrs | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 32 | 43 | −11 | 4 | 32 |
| 4 | San Gabriel Valley Highlanders | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 35 | 66 | −31 | 4 | 20 |

## Playoffs
### Format

Mid-Michigan won the PDL Regular Season title and a bye to the National Semi-Finals. This moved Dayton up to the Great Lakes Division first place spot and allowed West Michigan into the playoffs, taking the second place spot for the division.
For the Central and Eastern divisions, the top seeds from each division face the second place team from the opposite division. For the Western Conference, the division champion with the most points will play the wild card, while the two remaining division champions play each other.

### Conference playoffs

| Central Semifinals | Central Semifinals | Central Semifinals | Central Finals | Central Finals | Central Finals |
| HL1 | Chicago Sockers | 6 | | | |
| GL2 | West Michigan Edge | 0 | | | |
| GL2 | West Michigan Edge | 0 | HL1 | Chicago Sockers | 2 |
| | | | GL1 | Dayton Gems | 0 |
| GL1 | Dayton Gems | 1 | GL1 | Dayton Gems | 0 |
| HL2 | Rockford Raptors | 0 | | | |
| Eastern Semifinals | Eastern Semifinals | Eastern Semifinals | Eastern Finals | Eastern Finals | Eastern Finals |
| NE1 | Westchester Flames | 1 | | | |
| SE2 | Bradenton Academics | 0 | | | |
| SE2 | Bradenton Academics | 0 | NE1 | Westchester Flames | 1 |
| | | | SE1 | Tampa Bay Hawks | 0 |
| SE1 | Tampa Bay Hawks (AET/PSO) | 2 (4) | SE1 | Tampa Bay Hawks | 0 |
| NE2 | Vermont Voltage | 2 (2) | | | |
| Western Semifinals | Western Semifinals | Western Semifinals | Western Finals | Western Finals | Western Finals |
| NW | Yakima Reds | 2 | | | |
| WC | Spokane Shadow | 0 | | | |
| WC | Spokane Shadow | 0 | NW | Yakima Reds | 1 |
| | | | RM | Colorado Comets | 0 |
| RM | Colorado Comets | 4 | RM | Colorado Comets | 0 |
| SW | San Fernando Valley Heroes | 1 | | | |

### PDL championship

| PDL Semifinals | PDL Semifinals | PDL Semifinals | PDL Finals | PDL Finals | PDL Finals |
| PDL | Mid-Michigan Bucks | 5 | | | |
| NW | Yakima Reds | 2 | | | |
| NW | Yakima Reds | 2 | PDL | Mid-Michigan Bucks | 0 |
| | | | HL1 | Chicago Sockers | 1 |
| NE1 | Westchester Flames | 0 | HL1 | Chicago Sockers | 1 |
| HL1 | Chicago Sockers | 5 | PDL Third Place | PDL Third Place | PDL Third Place |
| | | | NW | Yakima Reds | 2 |
| | | | NE1 | Westchester Flames | 5 |