The Boston Bolts were a short lived U.S.

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 ...

team which came into existence in 1988 as a member of the third American Soccer League (ASL). They played in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Nickerson Field Nickerson Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Northeastern United States, on the campus of Boston University (BU) in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned by BU, and is the home field for some Boston University Terriers athl ...

. The team joined the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...

in 1990 when the ASL merged with the

Western Soccer League The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

History

1988

Both the Bolts and the American Soccer League entered their first year of existence in 1988. Most observers expected the Bolts to compete for their divisional title, but they finished fourth with a 9-11 record and well out of playoff contention. Despite this disappointment, the team did place Ross Irwin on the All-Star team.
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1989

The Bolts rebounded from their failed first year campaign to take second place in the Northern Division with a 13-7 record. They defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993), Tampa Bay Rowdies in the semifinals before falling to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the title series. Even with their greater team success, the Bolts still only put one player, Dehinde Akinlotan, on the All Star list.
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1990

At the end of the 1989 season, the ASL merged with the west coast

to form the

(APSL). The APSL was not a true league in that teams played other teams only in their conference. The East Conference was essentially the ASL and the West was the WSL. The first times teams from the two old leagues met in a competitive match was the championship game. The Bolts regressed to their first year performances, finishing fourth in the North Division with a 9-11 record. The club folded at the end of the season.
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Honors

All Stars * 1988: Ross Irwin * 1989: Dehinde Akinlotan

Year-by-year

External links

20 Years of Professional Soccer
(archived 21 June 2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Bolts (1988-1990) Soccer clubs in Boston Defunct soccer clubs in Massachusetts American Soccer League (1988–89) teams American Professional Soccer League teams 1988 establishments in Massachusetts 1990 disestablishments in Massachusetts Soccer clubs in Massachusetts Association football clubs established in 1988 Association football clubs disestablished in 1990