The 2016 season was

Bethlehem Steel FC Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. ...

's inaugural season of competitive

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

– its first season in the third division of American soccer and its first season in the

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

. Steel FC competed in the league's Eastern Conference.

Roster

Transfers

In

Out

Loan in

Loan out

Competitions

compete in

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

, which is the third tier of the

American soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur association football, soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are no ...

. Steel FC's affiliation with the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

has prevented the team from participating in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

competition. The decision to make affiliated "farm teams" ineligible for the U.S. Open Cup was decided for the 2016 iteration of the tournament.

Preseason

USL regular season

The

2016 USL season The 2016 USL season was the sixth season of the United Soccer League and the twenty-second season of USSF sanctioned Division III play organized by the United Soccer Leagues. On August 6, 2015, the league announced that the season would cons ...

will be contested by 29 teams, 14 of which compete in the league's Eastern Conference. All teams will play a regular season total of 30 matches between teams within their respective conference. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top eight teams from each conference advance to the

2016 USL Playoffs The 2016 USL playoffs is a postseason tournament following the 2016 United Soccer League regular season, the second since the league rebranded for the 2015 season. Including USL Pro history, it is the fifth postseason tournament. The tournamen ...

for a chance to compete for the USL Championship Title.

Standings (Eastern Conference)

Results

All times in

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

Statistics

''As of September 25, 2016.''

Goalkeepers

''As of September 25, 2016.'' :Players with names ''in italics'' were

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

from

for individual matches with Bethlehem. :Players with names marked * were

from another club for the whole of their season with Bethlehem. :Players with names marked † were transferred from the club midseason. :League denotes USL regular season :Playoffs denotes USL Playoffs

Honors

* Week 1 Team of the Week: D Ryan Richter * Week 4 Team of the Week: M

Eric Ayuk Eric Ayuk Mbu (born February 17, 1997) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a winger. Club career Youth Ayuk played football while attending Lycée Bilingue de Yaoundé in his native Cameroon. In June 2012, he moved to Thailand as part of ...

''Honorable Mention'': M Derrick Jones * Week 6 Team of the Week: G

John McCarthy John McCarthy may refer to: Government * John George MacCarthy (1829–1892), Member of Parliament for Mallow constituency, 1874–1880 * John McCarthy (Irish politician) (1862–1893), Member of Parliament for the Mid Tipperary constituency, ...

* Week 14 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': G Samir Badr * Week 16 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': F

Cory Burke Cory Lamar Crossgill Burke (born 28 December 1991) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a forward for USL Championship club Lexington Sporting Club and the Jamaica national team. Club career Rivoli United Born in Kingston, Jam ...

* Week 17 Team of the Week: M Derrick Jones * Week 20 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': D Ryan Richter

References

{{2016 in American soccer

Philadelphia Union II seasons