|
Orange County Blue Star are an American soccer team, originally founded in 1997. The team is a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference against teams from Bakersfield, Fresno, Glendora, La Mirada, Lancaster, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Ventura. They began life as Orange County Zodiac in the now-defunct USISL A-League, finishing fifth in the Pacific Conference in their inaugural season. After three years, they changed their name to Orange County Waves prior to the 2000 season, their final one in the A-League. The club dropped down to the PDL in 2001 and changed their name again, and the newly-christened Blue Star immediately enjoyed success, finishing their first year in the PDL as Champions of the Southwest Conference. Blue Star have remained one of strongest teams in the league, winning their conference three times, and reaching the national playoffs in 2003, 2005 and 2006. They currently play their home games at the stadium on the grounds of Orange Coast College in the city of Costa Mesa, California, 40 miles south of Los Angeles. The team’s colors are white, blue and orange. Following his relocation from Europe to California, former VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur striker Jürgen Klinsmann played eight games and scored five goals for Blue Star in the PDL 2003 at the age of 39, using the pseudonym Jay Goppingen. Klinsmann was born in the city of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Learn more: Sources: Wikipedia |