-
Photo courtesy of PhiliP Podskalan Orlando SeaWolves Midfielder Mario Alvarez (black uniform) advances the ball against a Florida Tropics defender.
Sports column
Received an invitation to come out to the Silver Spurs Arena last week to experience the Orlando SeaWolves in action.
The SeaWolves are a second-year franchise in Major Arena League Soccer (MASL), a league that was formed in 2008 (as the Professional Arena Soccer League).
The league was rebranded several times before becoming the MASL, which began the 2019 season with 17 teams playing in two divisions.
The Orlando SeaWolves play in the Eastern Conference with the Florida Tropics (Lakeland.); other members include the Baltimore Blast, Harrisburg (Pa.) Heat, Milwaukee Wave, Kansas City Comets, Rochester (NY) Lancers, St. Louis Ambush and the Utica City FC (NY).
Western Conference cities are located in Dallas, Mesquite (Texas), Monterey (Mexico), San Diego, Monterrey (Calif.), Tacoma, Turlock (Calif.) and Sonora (Mexico).
The teams play a 24-game schedule from December through March, followed by playoffs.
The game is played inside an ice hockey rink with turf, with five players and a goalie on the field at one time for each team. Unlike the outdoor game, professional indoor soccer features elements of both ice hockey and indoor lacrosse.
The hockey boards keep the ball in play, teams substitute freely “on the fly,” and there is no stoppage for offsides. Certain penalties sometimes result in a player being sent to the penalty box, forcing the offending team to play a man down. Teams trailing late in the game sometimes pull their goalie for an extra attacker.
The game runs for 15-minute quarters and scores like 11-8 and 10-9 are common.
Players come from basically all over the world. Many play in outdoor leagues in the late spring, summer and fall; but some specialize in just the indoor game.
“Our guys come from all over and many play in other professional outdoor leagues,” director of communications David Austin noted. “The playing level isn’t as high as Major League soccer but many of our players have participated on national teams and junior national teams and many play at levels just below MLS.”
One SeaWolves player, Columbia native Jonathan Mendoza, played outdoors for Orlando City when that team participated in the United Soccer League (USL), and he also played for Orlando City “B”, the Lions minor league developmental team.
On the night of my visit, the SeaWolves we’re hosting the Florida Tropics in the second game of the season. The game was fast-paced and exciting, with the home team falling behind 4-3 after one half.
The Tropics seized control with a couple of early goals in the second half before holding off a late rally, and winning 8-5 before an announced crowd of 746.
Management keeps things moving with upbeat music blaring during the game. It’s a family-friendly atmosphere with fan participation promotions during halftime, pre-game and quarter breaks and the SeaWolves Dance Team entertains the crowd in pre-game and halftime.
Fans are invited to meet the players in post-game autograph sessions and to attend the post-game party with the players and coaches.
Tickets to SeaWolves are more than reasonable (around $10).
To be honest, about the only thing that kept the night from being really fun was a lack of fans. Despite the cozy atmosphere at Silver Spurs, the 746 fans did little to create any excitement in the arena.
Perhaps it was because it was early in the season, perhaps it was because it’s a relatively new franchise that hasn’t had time to establish, and maybe it was because it was a Thursday night game on a school night, but hopefully this franchise will start drawing fans, because the entertainment value of professional indoor soccer has potential.
