The 2022 NISA season is the fourth season of the National Independent Soccer Association's third-division soccer competition. After three years of split seasons, NISA switched to a full season format, with a single table and a playoff competition to determine the 2022 champion.
Teams Six of the teams that participated in the 2021 Fall season returned, and were joined by four expansion clubs: Bay Cities FC, Flower City Union, Syracuse Pulse, and Valley United FC. From the existing 2021 teams, San Diego 1904 FC were rebranded to Albion San Diego, after merging with the youth club with the same name, while Chicago House AC, New Amsterdam FC and Stumptown AC will be on hiatus for 2022, and current title holders Detroit City FC moved to USL Championship.Detroit City to join USL Championship for 2022 season | USL Championship
Stadiums and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity Albion San Diego San Diego, California Canyon Crest Academy Stadium 5,000 Bay Cities FC Redwood City, California Terremere Field 3,500 California United Strikers FC Irvine, California Championship Soccer Stadium5,000 Chattanooga FC Chattanooga, Tennessee Finley Stadium 20,668 Flower City UnionRochester, New YorkMarina Auto Stadium 13,768 Los Angeles Force Whittier, California Various Maryland Bobcats FC Boyds, Maryland Maryland SoccerPlex 4,000 Michigan Stars FC Washington, Michigan Romeo High School 4,000 Syracuse Pulse Syracuse, New York Lazer Stadium2,000 Valley United FC Mesa, Arizona Bell Bank Park 5,000
Personnel and sponsorship Note: The league has signed a deal with Hummel to be the official kit manufacturer, but it still allows clubs to find their own provider. Team Head coach Captain(s) Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Albion San Diego Ozzie Ramos Capelli Nova Easy Kombucha Bay Cities FC Hummel Premia California United Strikers FC Nike Taco Bell Chattanooga FC Hummel Louisiana Hot Sauce, VfL Wolfsburg Flower City Union (interim) Hummel Los Angeles Force Xara — Maryland Bobcats FC Kay Banjo Hummel Jimmy's Famous Seafood Michigan Stars FC Hummel HTC Syracuse Pulse Givova Montreal Construction, SOS Valley United FC Capelli
Coaching changes +TeamOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming coachDate of appointmentFlower City Union Zach AgliataResignedMay 3, 20224th in East Colton Bly (interim)May 3, 2022Valley United Adrian GaitanResignedMay 19, 20222nd in EastTBD
Regular season The season started on March 26, and will see each team play 26 games over 30 weeks: four times against each opponent in the same division and two times against each opponent in the opposite division.
Standings (March 26–August 27) East Division
West Division
Standings (August 27–October 15) Due to Bay Cities FC's withdrawal from this season, NISA has revised the 2022 schedule and table with the eight remaining clubs. As a result, this standings had been condensed into a single table format and used an average-points per game total (points earned divided by matches played).
Results
Playoffs The playoffs began on October 21, and featured the top six teams from the regular season. The top two teams from the regular season table received a bye into the league semifinals. Teams finishing third through sixth played in the quarterfinals, with the winners being re-seeded before playing in the next round. The 2022 Final took place on November 6. All postseason games were broadcast online on Eleven Sports.
Originally, the East and West division winners would have been assigned the top two seeds and received byes to the semifinals. The second place teams in each division were to be seeded 3 and 4, while the third place finishers would be seeded 5 and 6. Following the restructuring of the table on August 27, the division aspect was dropped.
Schedule
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
NISA Championship Final
Player statistics
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Markus NaglestadChattanooga FC192 Alioune DiakhateAlbion San Diego123 Darwin EspinalMaryland Bobcats104 Omar NuñoCalifornia United Strikers95 Kaleb JacksonSyracuse Pulse86 Tony LopezCalifornia United Strikers77 Taylor GrayChattanooga FC6 Juan LouisSyracuse Pulse9 Elijah AmoMaryland Bobcats5 Alex McGrathChattanooga FC Edwin RivasLos Angeles Force Vasilios ZogosMichigan Stars
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Éder GuerreroLos Angeles Force5 Steven JuncajMichigan Stars David MasonMaryland Bobcats Markus NaglestadChattanooga FC5 Elijah AmoMaryland Bobcats4 Alioune DiakhateAlbion San Diego Darwin EspinalMaryland Bobcats Walter VarelaAlbion San Diego Gustavo VillalobosCalifornia United Strikers10 7 players tied3
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Jean AntoineCalifornia United Strikers11 Tatenda MkuruvaMichigan Stars3 Felix AnnanMaryland Bobcats6 Kevin GonzalezChattanooga FC5 Brandon GomezLos Angeles Force56 Benjamin RoachAlbion San Diego47 Daniel GagliardiSyracuse Pulse3 Alec RedingtonChattanooga FC Macklin RobinsonSyracuse Pulse10 5 players tied2
Awards Individual awards AwardWinnerTeamReasonGolden Boot Markus NaglestadChattanooga FC19 goals in 23 gamesGolden Glove Jean AntoineCalifornia United Strikers FC12 shutouts in 16 matches; 5 goals againstCoach of the Year Rod UnderwoodChattanooga FC14-7-3 recordGolden Ball (Most Valuable Player) Markus NaglestadChattanooga FC19 goals, 5 assists
NISA Best XI First team Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Jean Antoine (CUS) Matt Constant (MIC) Garrett Hogbin (CUS) Vasilios Zogos (MIC) Minjae Kwak (SYR) Alex McGrath (CHA) Alioune Diakhate (ASD) Darwin Espinal (MAR) Taylor Gray (CHA) Markus Naglestad (CHA) Omar Nuño (CUS)
Second team Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Tatenda Mkuruva (MIC) Jonathan Firmino (MIC) Franky Martinez (CHA) Edwin Rivas (LAF) Ian Cerro (CHA) Richard Dixon (CHA) Manuel Gonzalez (MAR) Steven Juncaj (MIC) Tony Lopez (CUS) Walter Varela (ASD) Kaleb Jackson (SYR)
NISA Independent Cup The NISA Independent Cup will start on June 25. It features nine of the ten NISA clubs, with California United Strikers FC opting not to participate the tournament. They will be joined by 27 invited amateur teams and divided geographically into nine regions of four clubs each. Each region will play a single round robin tournament between three amateur teams using a 10-point system. The winner of that round-robin will play against the NISA teams for the regional championship. Like last year, there will be no interregional play or national champion.
Participating Clubs Nine NISA teams play in nine regions respectively, as California United Strikers FC did not participate. Midwest, New England and South Central region replaced with Empire, Northeast and SoCal region due to lack of NISA teams (despite Michigan Stars based from Midwest but plays in Great Lakes as NISA's 2022 season did not have Midwest based clubs other than Michigan Stars). + Empire Team League Allentown United FC NISA Nation Lansdowne Yonkers FC EPSL NY Braveheart SC NISA Nation Syracuse Pulse NISA+ Great Lakes Team League FC Milwaukee Torrent NPSL Lansing Common FC MWPL Metro Louisville FC UPSL Michigan Stars FC NISA+ Mid-Atlantic Team League Maryland Bobcats FC NISA Northern Virginia FC EPSL Rockville SC UPSL Soda City FC UPSL
+ Northeast Team League Flower City Union NISA New Jersey Alliance FC NISA Nation NY Contour United UPSL Steel Pulse FC Maryland Super Soccer League+ Pacific Team League Battle Born FC NISA Nation Bay Cities FC NISA Modesto City FC SWPL Wenatchee All-Stars FC CasPL+ SoCal Team League AFC South Bay NISA Nation Albion San Diego NISA Capo FC NISA Nation Soul 2 Sole SWPL
+ Southeast Team League Brevard Fire SC NSL Florida Chattanooga FC NISA Club de Lyon FC NISA Nation Miami Beach CF NPSL+ Southwest Team League East Valley United SWPL SC Saguaros SWPL Valley FC Raiders NISA Nation Valley United FC NISA+ West Coast Team League Inland Empire Republic FC SWPL Los Angeles Force NISA Olympiacos CA SWPL Peak XI FC MPL
Empire Region Group stage
Regional final
Great Lakes Region Group stage
Regional final
Mid-Atlantic Region Group stage
Regional final
Northeast Region Group stage
Regional final
Pacific Region Group stage
Regional final
SoCal Region Group stage
Regional final
Southeast Region Group stage
Regional final
Southwest Region Group stage
Regional final
West Coast Region Group stage
Regional final
Notes
See also National Independent Soccer Association
References
External links NISA official website