| Full name | Southern California Eagles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | SoCal Eagles | ||
| Founded | 1983; 42 years ago (1983) | ||
| Stadium | Al Barbour Field La Mirada, California | ||
| Capacity | 1,150 | ||
| General Manager | Mark Schrock | ||
| Head Coach | Todd Elkins | ||
| League | USL League Two Women's Premier Soccer League | ||
| 2024 | 7th, Southwest Division Playoffs: DNQ | ||
| Website | https://www.thesocaleagles.com | ||
Southern California Eagles are an Americansoccer team based inLa Mirada, California. Founded in 2001 as theSouthern California Seahorses, the team plays inUSL League Two, the fourth tier of theAmerican Soccer Pyramid. They also field a team in theWomen's Premier Soccer League.[1]
The team plays its home games in the stadium on the campus ofWhittier College. The team's colors are navy blue, white and orange.
The Eagles are a division of Missionary Athletes International (MAI), an organization which undertakessports ministry to share the message ofChristianity through the environment of soccer. They are a sister organization of theCharlotte Eagles in USL League Two.
The Seahorses, which had previously been in existence as a youth soccer club since 1983, joined the PDL in 2001, and were successful immediately, finishing second toOrange County Blue Star in their debut season with a 13–6–1 record. 2002 continued the trend, when the Seahorses again finished second in the Southwest Division, this time behindChico Rooks, with an 11–7–0 record. Their first trip to the playoffs was also a successful one, when they beatSpokane Shadow andCascade Surge to advance to the national final four, where they were defeated in the semi-finals byBoulder Rapids Reserve.
The Seahorses missed the playoffs in 2003, finishing third behind divisional championsFresno Fuego, and just missed out again in 2004, finishing third behindOrange County Blue Star, despite posting some impressive victories in the regular season, including 4–1 defeat ofNevada Wonders and a 5–1 demolition ofSan Diego Gauchos.
The developing rivalry between the Seahorses andOrange County Blue Star continued in 2005, when yet again the men from La Mirada finished a close second to their all-conquering Southland neighbors in the Southwest Division standings. The Seahorses began the season with a five-game winning streak that included a 3–0 trouncing ofCalifornia Gold; however, they did not manage to defeat – or even score a goal on – their rivals in their three games, losing 4–0, 3–0 and 3–0 to the eventual divisional champs. Nevertheless, the Seahorses were clearly the next best thing in the southwest,[citation needed] and enjoyed several impressive wins (including a trio of 3-0s overSan Diego Gauchos,Nevada Wonders andFresno Fuego) in the second half of the season. Their trip to the playoffs was a short one, however, as the Seahorses lost toCascade Surge first time out. StrikerAnthony Stovall registered an impressive 7 goals on the season, andDylan Martinez led the team in assists.
2006 saw the Seahorses finally capture their first divisional title, bestingOrange County Blue Star by seven points at season's end. The year was one of solid consistency, and included a hugely impressive 9-game winning streak which stretched from early June to the end of July, and included two 4–0 victories (overLos Angeles Storm andCalifornia Gold), and a hard-fought finale against theSan Fernando Valley Quakes. However, for the second year in a row, the Seahorses' playoff excursion ended quickly with a 2–1 defeat toBYU Cougars. MLS-bound strikerJosh Hansen scored an impressive 8 goals and 4 assists on the season, closely followed by Romanian importCristian Rus with 6. KeeperEric Reed enjoyed the best goalkeeping statistics in the PDL, with a goals-against average of 0.621 per game, and keeping 10 clean sheets in his 15 games.
However, much like their crosstown rivals Blue Star, everything went wrong for the Seahorses in 2007. WithEric Reed having gone to newUSL-1 franchiseCalifornia Victory, the Seahorses defence became incredibly leaky; the team suffered four defeats in their first five games – including a chaotic 4–3 loss to theSan Fernando Valley Quakes – and although things began to sure up towards the second half of the season, they found themselves unable to actually WIN any games. Five ties in their last ten games put an end to their playoff hopes early, although the team did finish with a flourish with a resounding 4–0 thrashing ofBakersfield Brigade on the final day, and eventually finished 7th. MidfielderConan Hawkins led the scoring stats, tallying 4 goals on the season, whileChris Leiva registered 6 assists.
The downturn in form continued in 2008 for the Seahorses, who began the season with a 3–1 loss toSan Fernando Valley Quakes, and then won just one of their next eight games, a 1–0 road win overLancaster Rattlers. To their credit, few of the Seahorses' losses were blowouts: 0–1 here, 1–2 there, but in each game their strikers never quite seemed to breach the opposition defenses, or show enough sharpness in front of goal. They enjoyed their revenge overOrange County Blue Star with a 1–0 win in June, making up for a 4–1 thrashing earlier in the season, and put an end to theSan Jose Frogs' playoff chances with an impressive 3–1 home victory in mid-July, but finished the year with a 5–2 hammering at the hands ofFresno Fuego, and a disappointing bottom-of-the-table clash withLancaster Rattlers on the final day of the season which ended in a 1–1 tie and managed to keep them out of the basement spot. The Seahorses ended their season in 9th place;Chris Leiva,Diego Mejía andCristian Rus were the joint top scorers with three goals each, whileScott Lucky led the assist stats with 2 to his name.
The Seahorses entered their ninth season in the PDL looking to recapture the form of yesteryear, but it was not to be; despite welcoming ex-prosJosiah Snelgrove andAdam Frye back into the fold, and despite posting a 6–2 victory overBakersfield Brigade in their second game of the season in which new signingRyan Shaw netted twice, the Seahorses began to find that the story of their season would revolve around ties. The Seahorses drew eight of their sixteen regular-season games, and were made to rue their matches with Fresno Fuego andVentura County Fusion in which they conceded a 90th-minute equalizing goals when they looked odds-on to win. Their last win of the season came at the beginning of July, a 2–1 away victory over theLancaster Rattlers, and thereafter the men from La Mirada staggered to the finishing line, eventually finishing sixth in the division, eight points out of the playoffs, and missing the postseason for the third straight year. Ryan Shaw was the Seahorses' top scorer, with 6 goals.
On February 13, 2024, the team changed its name to the Southern California Eagles to match with other Missionary Athletes International soccer teams.[2]
On March 1, 2018, the unveiled a new crest, as a part of a partnership withCharlotte Eagles.[3]
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.
| Year | Division | League | Regular season | Playoffs | Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern California Seahorses | |||||
| 2001 | 4 | USL PDL | 2nd, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2002 | 4 | USL PDL | 2nd, Southwest | National Semifinals | did not qualify |
| 2003 | 4 | USL PDL | 3rd, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2004 | 4 | USL PDL | 3rd, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2005 | 4 | USL PDL | 2nd, Southwest | Conference Semifinals | did not qualify |
| 2006 | 4 | USL PDL | 1st, Southwest | Conference Semifinals | did not qualify |
| 2007 | 4 | USL PDL | 7th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2008 | 4 | USL PDL | 9th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2009 | 4 | USL PDL | 6th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2010 | 4 | USL PDL | 5th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2011 | 4 | USL PDL | 4th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2012 | 4 | USL PDL | 8th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2013 | 4 | USL PDL | 7th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2014 | 4 | USL PDL | 6th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2015 | 4 | USL PDL | 4th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2016 | 4 | USL PDL | 5th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2017 | 4 | USL PDL | 6th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2018 | 4 | USL PDL | 8th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2019 | 4 | USL League Two | 3rd, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| 2020 | 4 | USL League Two | Season cancelled due toCOVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021 | 4 | USL League Two | Did not play due toCOVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2022 | 4 | USL League Two | 3rd, Southwest | Conference Semifinals | did not qualify |
| 2023 | 4 | USL League Two | 4th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| Southern California Eagles | |||||
| 2024 | 4 | USL League Two | 7th, Southwest | did not qualify | did not qualify |
| Year | Division | League | Regular season | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | WPSL | 4th, Coastal | did not qualify |
| 2025 | 4 | WPSL | 9th, So Cal | did not qualify |
Todd Elkins (2005–2013)Johnny Juarez-Jackman (2013–2015)Joe Lurker (2015–present) Sports teams based inCalifornia | ||
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