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Northern Virginia FC
Full name	Northern Virginia Football Club
Founded	1998; 28 years ago as Northern Virginia Royals
Stadium	Segra Field; Leesburg, Virginia
Capacity	5,000
League	USL League Two; USL W League; Eastern Premier Soccer League; MASL3
2024	4th, Chesapeake Division; Playoffs: DNQ
Website	http://www.novafc.org/
Home colors	Away colors

Northern Virginia FC (formerly Northern Virginia Royals and Evergreen FC, and commonly known as NoVa FC) is an American soccer club from Leesburg, Virginia competing in USL League Two, USL W League, Eastern Premier Soccer League and Major Arena Soccer League 3.

The club's women's team was known as the Northern Virginia Majestics, who played in the women's USL W-League, and fielded a team in the USL's Super-20 League, a league for players 17 to 20 years of age run under the United Soccer Leagues umbrella. Throughout their recent history, NVFC previously enjoyed minor league affiliation with D.C. United, the nearby Major League Soccer franchise.^[1]

History

Professional

Northern Virginia FC was founded in 1998 and joined the USISL D-3 Pro League as an expansion franchise in 1998, entering the team under the name Northern Virginia Royals.^[2] They ended their first season in 7th place in the Atlantic Division with a 5–12–1 record.^[3] In their second season, they improved, winning 10 of their 18 regular season games, finishing fourth in the Atlantic Division and also qualified for their first US Open Cup campaign in 1999, where they were upset in the first round by Florida PDL side Cocoa Expos 5–3.^[4] In the playoffs they beat divisional rivals South Carolina Shamrocks 2–1 in the first round before falling 4–0 to Charlotte in the conference semi-final. The 1998 season and the Royals were featured in the book "Unlucky: A Season of Struggle in Minor League Professional Soccer" by Dave Ungrady, who trained and played briefly for the Royals as well^[5]^[6]

The D-3 Pro League became the USL Pro Select League in 2003, and the Royals finished bottom of the 3-team Southern Division, with just 6 wins for the year. The USL Pro Select League became the USL Second Division in 2005, and dispensed with divisions in favor of a single-table format; for the Royals, this proved to be yet another disastrous season.

Move to PDL

After finishing bottom of the league in the USL Second Division, the Royals management took the decision to self-relegate themselves to the USL Premier Development League for the 2006 season.^[7] The Royals won their first match in the amateur PDL 3–1 over West Virginia Chaos, ultimately finishing fourth in the Mid Atlantic Division in their debut 2006 season.

The Northern Virginia Royals were inducted into the USL Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007.^[7]

Partnership with D.C. United

In 2015, the Royals rebranded as Evergreen FC and partnered with Major League Soccer club D.C. United and formed a joint PDL team called D.C. United U-23, who combined their NPSL side with the Royals, to play in the PDL, finishing fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Division.^[8]^[9]

Evergreen Hammers

After the 2015 season, the Royals transferred their operations and relocated to Loudon County, Virginia in 2016 playing under the Evergreen FC banner as the Evergreen Hammers.^[7]^[10]

Northern Virginia FC

For the 2021 season, Evergreen which was already part of the Northern Virginia FC club, renamed the USL League Two club to sit under the NoVa FC banner.^[11] NoVa FC had already operated teams under that name in the lower level United Premier Soccer League and Eastern Premier Soccer League.^[12]

On 27 August 2021, NoVa FC announced they would be reviving the women's program with a new side in the USL W League beginning in 2022.^[13]

Logo history

Logo History

Year-by-year

Professional/USL League Two

Year	Division	League	Regular season	Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup
Northern Virginia Royals
1998	3	USISL D-3 Pro League	7th, Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
1999		USL D-3 Pro League	4th, Atlantic	Conference Semifinals	1st Round
2000			7th, Southern	did not qualify	2nd Round
2001			4th, Southern	did not qualify	did not qualify
2002			4th, Southern	did not qualify	did not qualify
2003		USL Pro Soccer League	3rd, Southern	did not qualify	did not qualify
2004		USL Pro Soccer League	3rd, Southern	did not qualify	did not qualify
2005		USL Second Division	9th	did not qualify	did not qualify
2006	4	USL PDL	4th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2007			7th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2008			5th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2009			7th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2010			5th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2011			2nd, South Atlantic	Conference Quarterfinals	did not qualify
2012			7th, South Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2013			3rd, South Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2014			6th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
Year	Division	League	Regular season	Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup
D.C. United U-23
2015	4	USL PDL	5th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
Evergreen FC
2016	4	USL PDL	7th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2017			7th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2018			6th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2019		USL League Two	8th, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2020	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
Northern Virginia FC
2021	4	USL League Two	3rd, Mid Atlantic	did not qualify	did not qualify
2022			3rd, Chesapeake	did not qualify	did not qualify
2023			2nd, Chesapeake	did not qualify	did not qualify
2024			4th, Chesapeake	did not qualify	did not qualify

Eastern Premier Soccer League

Year	Division	League	Regular season	Record (W-D-L)	Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup*
2020–21	5	Eastern Premier Soccer League	2nd, Mid-Atlantic	6–0–1	did not qualify	2nd Round
2021–22			1st, Mid-Atlantic	12–0–1	Champion	4th Qualifying Round
2022–23			1st, Mid-Atlantic	10–0–0	Champion	4th Qualifying Round

*Club entered in local qualifying round

Major Arena Soccer League 3

Year	Division	League	Regular season	Record (W-L-T)	Playoffs
2021–22	3	Major Arena Soccer League 3	1st, East	10–0–0	Champion
2022–23		Major Arena Soccer League 3	1st, East	7–2–0	Champion

USL W League

Year	Division	League	Regular season	Record (W-L-T)	Playoffs
2022	4	USL W League	5th, Mid Atlantic	1–7–2	did not qualify
2023		USL W League	3rd, Mid Atlantic	6–0–5	did not qualify
2024		USL W League	6th, Mid Atlantic	4–8–0	did not qualify
2025		USL W League	2nd, Mid Atlantic	7–2–1	did not qualify

Honors

League

Eastern Premier Soccer League
- Mid-Atlantic Conference Regular Season Champion (2): 2021–22; 2022–23
- Playoff Champion (2): 2021–22; 2022–23
Major Arena Soccer League 3
- East Division Regular Season Champion (2): 2022; 2023
- Playoff Champion (2): 2022; 2023
National Independent Soccer Association
- NISA Nation National Champion (1): 2023

Cups

Metropolitan DC-Virginia Soccer Association
- MDCVSA State Cup (2): 2021, 2022
National Independent Soccer Association
- NISA Independent Cup – Mid-Atlantic Region (Runner-Up): 2022
US Adult Soccer Association Region I
- National Amateur Cup Region I (1): 2022
US Adult Soccer Association
- National Amateur Cup (Runner-Up): 2022

Statistics

Career USL 2 Goal Leaders

Rank	Player	Goals	Career span
1	AJ Sheta	13	2016-
2	JP Ayolmbong	12	2022-
3	Vagner Marquis	11	2022-
4	Tyler Clegg	8	2018-2022
5	KJ Nadeau	7	2019-
6	Bernardo Majano	6	2016-2019
6	Martin Ngoh	6	2021
8	DJ Charlton	5	2018-2019
9	Luke Campbell	4	2021-
9	Connor Coward	4	2016-2017
9	Jhonny de Souza	4	2018-
9	John Emmons	4	2017-2018
9	Lewis Long	4	2017
14	Samuel Biyo	3	2018
14	Graydon Hester	3	2016-2017
14	Iliass Laghjibi	3	2022-
14	Declan Quill	3	2023-
14	Alton West	3	2021-

*Through 2023 USL 2 Season

Head coaches

Silvino Gonzalo (1998–2007)
John Pascarella (2007–2008)
Tom Torres (2009–2010)
Richie Burke (2011–2012)^[14]
Grady Renfrow (2013–2014)
Richie Burke (2014–2015)
Brian Welsh (2014–2015)
Ian Bishop (2016)
Grady Renfrow (2017)
Paul Ngend (2018–2019)
Grady Renfrow (2021–)

References

^ "Royals Owner Mo Sheta Inducted in USL Hall of Fame". Northern Virginia Royals.
^ Kuhns, Will (April 10, 1998). "Local Players, Coach Gonzalo make Royal Entrance to USISL". Washington Post.
^ "USL Pro Media Guide". United Soccer League. 2012.
^ "U.S. Open Cup: First-round result (June 10)". Soccer America. June 11, 1999.
^ Holroyd, Steve (December 28, 2017). "Putting the book in: American soccer literature to read this winter". The Philly Soccer Page.
^ Edwards, Bob (April 28, 1999). "Soccer". NPR.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Evergreen FC formerly Northern Virginia Royals". Northern Virginia Royals.
^ Candeloro, Christian (May 15, 2015). "New York Red Bulls and D.C. United U23 Join PDL". Ocean City FC. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
^ "D.C. United Under-23 team to compete in Premier Development League in 2015". D.C. United. February 19, 2015.
^ "Next-Level Soccer: Evergreen Hammers Host Final Game Saturday". Loudoun Now. June 22, 2016.
^ "UNVEILING THE SCHEDULE: USL League Two will kick off May 1". Front Row Soccer. February 25, 2021.
^ "EPSL Welcomes Northern Virginia FC". EPSL. August 26, 2020.
^ "Northern Virginia FC Announced as Newest Club to Join USL W League". www.uslwleague.com. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
^ Royals Hire Burke as PDL Coach

External links

Official website
Official PDL site

[1] "Royals Owner Mo Sheta Inducted in USL Hall of Fame". Northern Virginia Royals.

[2] Kuhns, Will (April 10, 1998). "Local Players, Coach Gonzalo make Royal Entrance to USISL". Washington Post.

[3] "USL Pro Media Guide". United Soccer League. 2012.

[4] "U.S. Open Cup: First-round result (June 10)". Soccer America. June 11, 1999.

[5] Holroyd, Steve (December 28, 2017). "Putting the book in: American soccer literature to read this winter". The Philly Soccer Page.

[6] Edwards, Bob (April 28, 1999). "Soccer". NPR.

[evergreen-7] "Evergreen FC formerly Northern Virginia Royals". Northern Virginia Royals.

[8] Candeloro, Christian (May 15, 2015). "New York Red Bulls and D.C. United U23 Join PDL". Ocean City FC. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.

[9] "D.C. United Under-23 team to compete in Premier Development League in 2015". D.C. United. February 19, 2015.

[10] "Next-Level Soccer: Evergreen Hammers Host Final Game Saturday". Loudoun Now. June 22, 2016.

[11] "UNVEILING THE SCHEDULE: USL League Two will kick off May 1". Front Row Soccer. February 25, 2021.

[12] "EPSL Welcomes Northern Virginia FC". EPSL. August 26, 2020.

[13] "Northern Virginia FC Announced as Newest Club to Join USL W League". www.uslwleague.com. Retrieved August 27, 2021.

[14] Royals Hire Burke as PDL Coach

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