BREMERTON, WA— The Pumas are back.

After entering the NPSL as Kitsap Soccer Club in 2017, the Northwest Conference Division champions will take on a new look next season. Or you could call it a throwback.

The Bremerton-based soccer team will be rebranded as the Kitsap Pumas starting in 2018, taking on the identity it held as a PDL expansion club in 2009 until moving to the NPSL last season.

“It’s good to be back,” Pumas owner Robin Waite said.

As Kitsap Soccer Club in 2017, the team won the NPSL’s Northwest Conference Division in its first season, going unbeaten away from home during the regular season and advancing to the Western Conference semifinals.

But many fans had a hard time not calling Kitsap SC the Pumas. Now, that won’t be a problem.

In reverting to the Pumas moniker, the club taps into a history that goes back to the foundation of the club in 2009. The Pumas won the 2011 PDL title, defeating the Laredo Heat 1-0 in the championship game. As the Pumas, they also advanced to the 2014 title game and won four division titles.

Video Flashback: March 2009

The Pumas also own a formidable history in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as the first PDL club to qualify for the tournament. They advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup in 2016 before falling to the Seattle Sounders.

In 2018, Kitsap will look to add to its NPSL honors. Only with a new name.

“We had a great year this year,” Waite said. “But I expect as the Pumas, we’ll be even better.”

Kitsap Soccer Club begins its first season in the National Premier Soccer League in 2017 after eight seasons as the Kitsap Pumas in the Premier Development League. In the club’s eight-year history, it won the PDL national championship in 2011 and advanced to the national final again in 2014, establishing themselves as a club with a proven record of providing a high level of training and play for aspiring professionals as a stepping stone to the next levels of American soccer. Kitsap SC plays its home matches at Gordon Field, an intimate 1,500-capacity stadium on the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton, Washington, a one-hour ferry ride west of Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula.