BREMERTON, WA— What happens when you treat a club of 8 seasons in your league in a way they deem contrary and unfair? In the case of the PDL in Bremerton, you get dumped. It was Kitsap Soccer Club getting the last word in today as they joined PDL rivals the National Premier Soccer League.

The PDL trademark laws took a final chunk out of Kitsap – the club will go with the official name of “Kitsap Soccer Club” and a reworked logo for 2017. But the PUMAS are now free to chart their own destiny in a new competition. “You can call us Pumas,” Kitsap head coach Cammy MacDonald told the Kitsap Sun. “We just can’t call ourselves Pumas.”

(Cover photo: Kitsap players and mascot Pedro the P___a enjoy the rain at a 2016 event. Club photo.)

The Pumas are ready to leave 8 highly successful seasons in the PDL in the rear view mirror.

“We were a franchise of the PDL for eight years, and we had some good success there,” KSC owner Robin Waite said in the official league press release. “We would like to thank the PDL for providing us the platform to develop our club and brand, but we feel that at this point, membership in the NPSL is the best possible direction for the future success of our team.”

The move brings the total of clubs in the NPSL Northwest Conference to three. KSC joins the Portland Spartans and Seattle’s OSA FC. The loss of the Pumas reduces the number of teams in the PDL Northwest Division to six – as long as all of the other clubs come back.

It also changes the landscape of soccer in Washington. Once the king of 4th division soccer in our state, the PDL is now down to two local sides, the Sounders U23 out of Tacoma / Sumner and Washington Crossfire out of Redmond. Crossfire’s return for 2017 has not yet been confirmed.