To help continue the winning tradition at Ocean City FC, Byron Carmichael, the club’s all-time leading scorer, will return for the 2010 season. When the Nor’easters kick off their home opener on Saturday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at Carey Stadium, it will be Carmichael’s seventh season in the PDL.
 

 

Byron Carmichael career PDL stats

2004 10 goals, 2 assists (11 games) 2005 10 goals, 4 assists (16 games) 2006 6 goals, 4 assists (16 games) 2007 9 goals, 4 assists (12 games) 2008 6 goals, 4 assists (15 games) 2009 11 goals, 1 assist (16 games)

Totals (Club rank) 52 goals (1st all-time) 19 assists (Tied-1st w/ Ruben Mingo) 123 points (1st all-time) 6,224 minutes played (1st all-time)

Any successful Premier Development League (PDL) franchise has at least a couple veterans that the young players can look up to that make up the foundation of the club. It’s what has helped Ocean City FC achieve the second-best overall record since joining the league in 2003.

To help continue that winning tradition, Byron Carmichael, the club’s all-time leading scorer, will return for the 2010 season. Carmichael enters the season with 52 goals, 19 assists in 86 games and he is also the club’s all-time leader in minutes played with 6,224.

When the Nor’easters kick off their home opener on Saturday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at Carey Stadium, it will be Carmichael’s seventh season as a member of the club.

“My decision to come back this year was a difficult one,” said Carmichael. “I always said that if soccer wasn’t fun for me anymore, I will hang up the cleats, but I had so much fun playing last year with the group of players that was assembled by Neil Holloway. He did a great job of recruiting players to complement each other on and off the field.”

"Byron is unlike any striker in the PDL," said Barons general manager Neil Holloway. "He has a wealth of experience, and is a tremendous target man. No matter how he is playing, when you need a goal in an important game, Byron will deliver, and has delivered, countless times over the years."

The Lumberton, NJ native played his college soccer at Marshall University (1999-2002) where he remains the school’s all-time goalscoring leader, and was elected to Marshall’s athletics hall of fame. He was drafted by the Kansas City Wizards in the sixth round of the 2003 Major League Soccer Superdraft, but ended up playing in the United Soccer Leagues for the Cincinnati Riverhawks of the Pro Soccer League (now called the USL Second Division). After half a season with them, he was transferred to the Wilmington Hammerheads of the PSL. The highlight of his time with the Hammerheads was assisting twice in the club’s 4-1 US Open Cup upset of Major League Soccer’s Dallas Burn (now known as FC Dallas).
 

Byron Carmichael’s career US Open Cup statistics

Byron Carmichael is among the top scorers in US Open Cup play during the Professional Era (1995-present). Johnny Menyongar (Multiple teams) 13 goals Jamie Moreno (DC United) 12 goals Dante Washington (Multiple teams) 11 goals Byron Carmichael (Wilmington/Ocean City) 10 goals

2003 (Wilmington Hammerheads) Round 3: 1 goal vs. Atlanta Silverbacks 2004 Round 1: 2 goals vs. Allied SC Round 2: 1 goal vs. Syracuse Salty Dogs 2005 Round 1: 1 goal vs. NY Greek American Atlas Round 3: 2 goals vs. Richmond Kickers  2007 Round 1: 1 goal vs. Crystal Palace Baltimore 2009 Round 1: 2 goals vs. Crystal Palace Baltimore

After his first professional outdoor season, Carmichael spent the 2003/04 season with the Philadelphia Kixx of the Major Indoor Soccer League before joining Ocean City FC (then known as the South Jersey Barons) in the summer of 2004. That year, he helped the club to their historic undefeated regular season in the PDL, and later signed with the Utah Blitzz of the USL’s Pro Soccer League (PSL). Carmichael would make an impact in Utah, scoring the equalizing goal in the 80th minute of the PSL championship game, which the Blitzz would eventually win on penalty kicks over the Charlotte Eagles.

After the 2004 season, he returned to South Jersey and helped the club with their move to Ocean City prior to the 2005 campaign. He scored 10 goals and dished out four assists in 2005 and helped the Barons make a run to the third round of the US Open Cup. In 2006, he totaled six goals and four assists and topped that in 2007 with nine tallies and another four helpers. Carmichael also scored the lone goal in Ocean City’s 1-0 upset of Crystal Palace Baltimore (USL-2) in the first round of the 2007 US Open Cup.

After scoring six goals in a disappointing 2008 season, he bounced back with a career-high 11 goals to lead the way to the best overall season in club history. In addition to leading the team to a pair of playoff wins and an appearance in the PDL quarterfinals, he also scored two goals in another Open Cup upset over Crystal Palace Baltimore. He was named TheCup.us Player of the Round and helped the club upset Real Maryland Monarchs, also of USL Second Division, helping the club reach the third round where they lost to DC United of MLS.

“The season was a great ride for me as a player especially going to the quarterfinals in the PDL,” said Carmichael. “We got to play an MLS team in the US Open Cup which was the first for some of the college players. I feel I can help the younger players with their goal of reaching the professional level after college. I had success in the professional level and can share my knowledge with my teammates about what they might experience on the way to that level.”

When he’s not on the field as a player, you can find him on the sidelines coaching. He is the assistant coach for the women’s soccer program at Rutgers-Camden University, but when he’s not coaching, he is teaching 5th grade at Hedgepath Elementary School.

“Our goal this year is to get into the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and make the PDL playoffs,” said Carmichael. “We had a terrific run last year and we are looking to new players to step right in and help the team continue the club’s winning ways.”